As clinical evidence mounts that proton therapy delivers better outcomes with fewer side effects than conventional radiation, health systems are racing to add the capability — both to improve patient care and to stay competitive.
Here are eight systems expanding and investing in proton therapy services:
Editor’s note: This list is not exhaustive.
- Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, part of Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine, will install the first proton beam therapy system in Nebraska. The system was delivered to Omaha-based Nebraska Medical Center on June 6.
Construction on the $36 million project is expected to take two years, with proton therapy projected to be available to patients by spring 2027. - Radiation oncologists at Stanford (Calif.) Medicine treated the first patient with its upright, compact proton therapy system at the Stanford Medicine Cancer Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
The Sridhar B. Seshadri Proton Therapy Suite is the first of its kind in the world and was designed by Stanford Medicine in collaboration with Mevion Medical Systems and Leo Cancer Care.
- Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute received approval from the Massachusetts Public Health Council to build a $50.5 million proton therapy center on its Longwood Medical Campus.
The center will be the first proton therapy facility in New England to treat patients in a seated or inclined position and is expected to open in late 2027. - The radiation oncology team at Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute at Boca Raton (Fla.) Regional Hospital, part of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Baptist Health, treated its first patient with proton therapy in May.
- Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Froedtert ThedaCare Health and Milwaukee-based Medical College of Wisconsin opened Wisconsin’s first proton therapy facility.
The facility is located at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center on the Froedtert Hospital campus in Milwaukee. - Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health is adding proton therapy to its radiation oncology program.
The proton therapy system will be installed at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and integrated into existing oncology services for both adult and pediatric patients. - Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health received approval from state regulators to build a $54 million cancer care facility in Marlborough, Mass., that will offer proton therapy. Officials said they anticipate proton therapy will be available to patients in February 2028.
- Madison, Wis.-based UW Health completed construction of its proton therapy space at Eastpark Medical Center in 2025 and expects to begin treating its first patients with proton therapy in 2026.
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