Arizona a Hot Spot for Cancer Centers

PHOENIX — Construction is under way on the new Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Phoenix — a 131,000-square-foot building that will be located on the two-year-old Banner Gateway Medical Center campus, which already has 76-beds designated for cancer care.

 

Designed by the local office of international architectural firm Cannon Design, the BMAC center is slated to open sometime in 2011. The opening of the new facility will unite one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital systems, Banner Health, with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center — an educational institution that has been internationally recognized for its research and treatment of cancer.

 

The cancer center will house outpatient services that include radiation oncology, outpatient imaging, multi-specialty clinics, infusion therapy and support services. Inpatient services will be provided by the existing Banner Gateway hospital facility.

 

Banner’s expansion into the cancer care sector comes after openings of several facilities by Cancer Treatment Centers of America, according to reports. The Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson, located about a hundred miles away, is also said to be planning a major expansion in the state.

 

Banner is using funding from a $1 billion bond to finance the project, according to reports.