Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health is spending $48 million on a one-room proton therapy facility, with leaders saying they believe the cancer-fighting technology is worth the cost.

The new facility, to open in fall 2021, will have capacity for up to 30 patient visits a day.

Lancasters will be the second proton therapy center in Pennsylvania, working in partnership with Penns flagship center in Philadelphia that is described as the largest and most advanced in the world.

Work has just started on the facility here, which will be part of the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute in East Hempfield Township.

Jan Bergen, president and CEO of LG Health, said the local center will allow area residents who have cancer to avoid trekking to Philadelphia for multiple days of treatment, which can be physically and emotionally exhausting.

Proton therapy is a form of radiation that can increase the dose to the tumor while decreasing the exposure of healthy surrounding tissue.

The center will measure about 8,000 square feet, with most of the space taken up by the massive proton therapy equipment and the concrete that will house it.

According to Dr. James Metz, chair of radiation oncology at Penn Medicine, proton therapy is most useful in combination with other treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Dr. Randall A. Oyer, medical director of the Barshinger Institute, said adding proton therapy fits nicely with two other initiatives.

They are giving more Lancaster patients a chance to take part in clinical trials, and expanding use of precision medicine that is using increasingly targeted approaches.

There are more and more new drugs coming onto the market rapidly, Oyer said, and for the first time were seeing that patients who participate in clinical trials have better outcomes and live longer.

He noted that in some cases patients who participate in clinical trials get their medication free.

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Proton therapy is a relatively new technology and many insurers cover it on a limited basis or not at all, leading to financial difficulties at some of the existing centers.

Last summer, a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report cited research that found proton therapy costs about twice as much as other types of radiation therapy and, noting a 2014 assessment, said use has grown despite a lack of evidence that it offers a clinical advantage over alternative treatments for certain types of cancer.

This summer, Medicare proposed a change that would limit proton therapy to roughly the same reimbursement as other types of radiation treatment.

Asked about those issues, Metz said insurance covers about 70% of patients getting proton therapy in Philadelphia, and its years of experience give the system confidence that the developing field of research shows improved outcomes for patients receiving the therapy.

Weve seen this coming, he said. Weve been doing this for a while.

He also noted that proton therapy is being refined as it comes into wider use and in some cases treatment can be much shorter than with traditional radiation and that cutting treatment times makes the therapy less expensive.

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Penn Medicine LG Health plans $48M proton therapy center that will be Pennsylvania's 2nd - LancasterOnline