A physician group has asked Wenatchee, Wash.-based Confluence Health to pause plans for a $60 million cancer center, according to a Feb. 18 report from NCW Life.
The Wenatchee Valley Medical Group said its physicians were not included in the initial planning of the project. The group also said the cancer center plans do not address the area’s need for advanced diagnostic imaging and interventional services, the report said.
Confluence Health was established in 2013 as an affiliation between two organizations: Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and Central Washington Hospital. Today, the Wenatchee Valley Medical Group employs physicians who provide care through Confluence Health. The organizations’ affiliation is set to expire at the end of 2027.
Confluence Heath’s existing cancer center is on the system’s Mares Campus, which is owned by the Wenatchee Valley Medical Group and leased to Confluence Health. The new cancer center will be built on the system’s Central Campus, about two miles from the Mares Campus.
Plans for the new cancer center include two radiation vaults, though two vaults are currently housed at the Mares Campus facility, according to NCW Life.
“While the existing cancer care site at our Mares Campus is functional, it will not meet our future patient needs, nor will it provide our patients and staff the experience they deserve,” Confluence Health said in a statement shared with Becker’s.
The Confluence Health board — of which two Wenatchee Valley Medical Group physicians are members — approved plans for the new cancer center in October.
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