SIH Cancer Institute joins Siteman Cancer Network Goal: Bring down the number of late-stage cancer patients in southern Illinois
The SIH Cancer Institute in Carterville is the latest affiliate to join the Siteman Cancer Network of St. Louis, providing southern Illinois patients access to a greater degree of specialized cancer care, including clinical trials, specialists and ongoing research - in many cases without having to leave southern Illinois.
Led by Siteman Cancer Center, a nationally recognized comprehensive cancer center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the network provides cancer prevention and control strategies and genomic and genetic testing.
Patients also will have streamlined access to highly specialized treatments and technologies, including bone marrow transplantation, proton therapy and clinical trials, at Siteman in St. Louis.
"Our physicians (already) provide top-level cancer care," said SIH President and CEO Rex Budde. "By becoming a member of the Siteman Cancer Network, we are expanding our ability to reduce the burden of cancer in Southern Illinois."
The collaboration officially began in March, but SIH Cancer Institute System Director Jennifer Badiu said SIH has "been doing a great deal of work with the Siteman Cancer Center for four or five years."
Dr. Timothy Eberlein, director of the Siteman Center, said the areas of southern Illinois and southeast Missouri are some of the most health-challenged areas in the U.S. He said his greatest hope for the Siteman/SIH collaboration is to lessen the number of late-stage cancer patients who come in for treatment, by getting patients to access high quality cancer care earlier in the disease process.
For example, the Mississippi River valley south of St. Louis has the highest rates of colorectal cancer mortality in the nation, he said.
Collaborations like the one between Siteman and SIH are key to driving down those mortality numbers, Eberlein said, because while Siteman has the level of expertise, SIH has the credibility in southern Illinois.
"We have a great playbook on educational outreach programs and how to get people to come in for screenings, and SIH has a terrific reputation in their community," he added. As well, Rex Budde and the SIH physicians already have relationships with Siteman.
"Early cancers are now very treatable - the likelihood of a small breast cancer being cured is relatively high," for example. "What is sad is when a patient comes in with last stage colorectal cancer that has spread to other organs - it makes it tougher to treat and more invasive to treat.
"Several years from now will be we be able to show we can reduce the number of late-stage patients who come through SIH? That would be a home run."
SIH Cancer Institute is the fourth affiliate to join the Siteman network and the second in Illinois.
Membership in the Siteman network also strengthens and further expands SIH's connection as a member of the BJC Collaborative, an affiliation of health care systems throughout Illinois and Missouri aimed at improving clinical care and performance and reducing overall health care costs.
As a network member, SIH Cancer Institute will work with Siteman Cancer Center to assess cancer's impact on Southern Illinois and develop a plan to lessen the overall burden and measure results. Possibilities include addressing lung and colorectal cancer rates and promoting cancer screenings and other healthy activities.
Key components of the network affiliation include:
• Development of targeted interventions to reduce cancer risk, and evaluation tools to measure success.
• Implementation of such cancer prevention strategies as the use of interactive tools, e-books, videos, individual coaching and online cancer risk assessment tools.
• Use of genomic and genetic testing to help identify more personalized, targeted treatments based on the characteristics of a patient's disease.
• Sharing of best practices to improve patient care. Examples include how nurses and radiation therapists are trained to care for oncology patients and implementing industry-approved guidelines for survivorship, screening and genetic counseling programs.
Most patients who are diagnosed with cancer at SIH will continue to be treated in southern Illinois, as physicians here consult when needed with the doctors and researchers at Siteman.