The garage, which has already gone through the planning approval process, will hold more than 1,100 cars.
Penn Medicine is planning a 195,000-square-foot cancer care facility adjoining the Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro.Photo Credit: Penn Princeton Medical Center
The new cancer center is proposed for a site at the opposite end of the main hospital building from the Medical Arts Pavilion. Photo Credit: Plainsboro Planning Department
The garage, which has already gone through the planning approval process, will hold more than 1,100 cars.Photo Credit: Plainsboro Planning Department
Penn Medicine is planning a 195,000-square-foot cancer care facility adjoining the Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro.Photo Credit: Penn Princeton Medical Center
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By Richard K. Rein
Published March 5, 2024 at 9:54 PM
Last updated March 5, 2024 at 9:54 PM
Princeton, NJ – Penn Medicine is preparing to build a 195,000-square-foot, “foundational” cancer care facility adjoining its existing Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro. The new Penn Medicine Princeton Health Cancer Center will include more than 40 exam rooms, more than 30 infusion chairs, and two radiation oncology linear accelerators. The estimated total project cost – which includes a 1,161-space, six-level parking garage and a 31,000-square-foot outpatient imaging center -- is $401 million.
Garage construction, which has already been approved by Plainsboro Township, is expected to begin in 2026. The entire project, including the cancer care facility, which is in the preliminary stages of the township’s approval process, is expected to be completed in 2028.
The board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, which has owned Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro since 2018, approved the plan on February 29.
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A Penn Medicine spokesperson described the planned new cancer center as “a foundational part of Penn Medicine’s cancer system strategy, providing a platform for more advanced care in the Central New Jersey region. The proposed facility will offer comprehensive cancer treatment in a single facility staffed by disease-specific physicians and multidisciplinary teams working in concert with Abramson Cancer Center physicians across Penn Medicine.
“This integrated model has been successful at Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, and in Penn Medicine’s suburban-Philadelphia ambulatory centers – offering patients care and access to clinical trials close to home as well as care coordination for advanced services including surgeries and proton therapy” at Penn Medicine’s hospitals in downtown Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s account of the board meeting offered some insight into the hard economics underlying the science and art of the health care system. A health system executive was quoted saying that the Princeton Medical Center needed to provide services in advanced medicine that would help differentiate it from competitors such as RWJ Barnabas in New Jersey and New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The Inquirer quoted Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, telling board members that he and other executives considered various ways to expand Princeton’s offerings, but decided that “cancer is our sweet spot, so we opted to push forward on an advanced platform around the cancer program.”
The Inquirer account noted the shift within the hospital industry in which many surgical procedures are being done on an outpatient basis, straining the budgets of full service hospitals such as Princeton Medical Center. The Inquirer account quoted Penn Medicine’s chief financial officer Keith Kasper: “You really need this differentiator to bring Princeton back into a place of financial stability.”
The Penn Medicine press department did not comment on the Inquirer coverage, but did provide this statement from Michele Volpe, chief operating officer of University of Pennsylvania Health System:
“Penn Medicine’s advanced cancer care draws patients who live both near and far from our facilities – on average, a Penn Medicine cancer patient travels 20 miles for care in Philadelphia, and 15 miles to be treated at our regional hospitals. But that travel can be difficult for patients and families going through hard times, and our cancer system investments continue to expand access to the most advanced care across the entire region we serve.
“The communities around Penn Medicine Princeton Health are a crucial area for increasing these services, since many patients there otherwise face lengthy drives to hospitals in Philadelphia or New York City. We are tremendously excited to move ahead with this project to provide more patients in New Jersey with options close to home.”
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