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Jefferson’s New Outpatient Center Meets Present and Future Needs of Cancer Patients, Providers, Researchers
The new outpatient center is a win-win-win situation for Jefferson Health and the population it is dedicated to serving.
The state-of-the-art building, which broke ground in March 2020 and is expected to open in June 2024, will deliver seamless care to patients, give physicians and other healthcare providers the ability to more easily collaborate with each another, and allow researchers to work in an advanced, high-tech environment as they search for new therapies and cures.
From the standpoint of cancer patients, this is going to be incredible and transformative.
Almost every aspect of care—from testing to treatment—is all under one roof, the patient experience will be streamlined and efficient.
85,000 square feet of the building is dedicated to Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center—or about one-third—of the medical service space in the building, says Robert Francis, director of development for capital projects at Jefferson Health.
The cancer center covers three full floors of the building—12, 14, and 15 . The 12th floor is the infusion floor where patients receive medications and participate in clinical trials; it also has an on-site pharmacy. The 14th floor is the medical oncology floor where patients meet with their clinical care team; it consists of exam rooms and consultation rooms. The 15th floor is the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Welcome Center, where many needs are met, including services such as financial counseling, psychological counseling, social services, and other forms of support.
“It can be somewhat cumbersome for people coming into Center City,” he says, citing the amount of time it takes to find parking, then navigate the different buildings for various aspects of treatment and services. “This building has it all. It has parking, and it has all of the care delivered under one roof… with advanced technology that will be state-of-the-art for decades to come.”
While an abundance of technology might seem counterintuitive to the compassionate human touch that Jefferson is known for, it has the opposite effect, says Francis. “All of the technology is there to increase the amount of quality time between patient and provider.”
Chapman adds that the technology helps healthcare providers deliver the highest quality cancer care, allows the collaboration among different specialists to create seamless delivery of care, and provides researchers with the opportunity to bring their discoveries from the laboratories into clinical trials.
“We’ve now developed the largest phase one program in the tri-state area,” Chapman says, explaining that phase one trials are aimed at patients who have exhausted some of the standard therapies that exist and are looking for cutting-edge opportunities that aren’t available elsewhere.
Francis notes that the building would not be possible without philanthropy. “Philanthropy is important in academic medical centers because it allows the institution to provide special care, offer special clinical trials, address special cases that can’t be addressed at other places, and it supports the academic enterprise teaching that underpins the medical college.”