MDACC Austin

[deleted1111261]

Austin is not underserved.

And the TXONC group is mostly freestanding, so they are cost effective.

This will drive up costs and hurt the groups there. For what? Market domination?

Banner, FWIW, did not win the Phoenix market. AZCCC still rules, and Ironwood and Palos Verde do very well.

University of Texas System Regents announce plans to build UT Medical Center on site of Erwin Center

The University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife announced plans to launch a monumental healthcare initiative to accelerate and expand UT Austin’s burgeoning medical district into a world-class academic medical center for education, research and patient care. The...

www.mdanderson.org

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[medgator]

No CON. FL had 12+ cyberknifes at one point too.

A lot of these satellites struggle from what I've seen. People don't care to go to Cleveland clinic in Weston FL like the way to want to go to CCF in Cleveland. Not sure baptist or banner mdacc is going to drive pts the way mdacc in Houston is going to drive pts

The licensing fees get to be a bit much and then the "partnership" is abandoned. Mdacc Orlando dumped it over a decade ago

 

[Gfunk6]

I suspect the same thing that happened in Phoenix will happen in Austin.

 

[Bequerel]

I wonder if this will be more like an academic satellite or extension of MDACC given that Houston and Austin are both university of Texas facilities and only 2.5 hours from each other? It sounds different than the other places where you just pay a huge fee and go through a bs credentialing process to slap their name on the side of your center. Don’t get me wrong, I hope it fails because. I think MDACC is the devil! God knows they’ve screwed over a bunch of my patients or refused to help those with inadequate insurance, despite them being a state institution.

 

[deleted1111261]

That’s a fair point.

The New Mexico project was not a network site - it was a satellite. It has failed.

 

[medgator]

I wonder if this will be more like an academic satellite or extension of MDACC given that Houston and Austin are both university of Texas facilities and only 2.5 hours from each other? It sounds different than the other places where you just pay a huge fee and go through a bs credentialing process to slap their name on the side of your center. Don’t get me wrong, I hope it fails because. I think MDACC is the devil! God knows they’ve screwed over a bunch of my patients or refused to help those with inadequate insurance, despite them being a state institution.

NCI-designated PPS exempt centers are the worst!

 

[temujim]

Austin is not underserved.

And the TXONC group is mostly freestanding, so they are cost effective.

This will drive up costs and hurt the groups there. For what? Market domination?

Banner, FWIW, did not win the Phoenix market. AZCCC still rules, and Ironwood and Palos Verde do very well.

University of Texas System Regents announce plans to build UT Medical Center on site of Erwin Center

The University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife announced plans to launch a monumental healthcare initiative to accelerate and expand UT Austin’s burgeoning medical district into a world-class academic medical center for education, research and patient care. The...

www.mdanderson.org

Austin didn't need a med school either. But by gumption Texas A&M has a med school so UT Austin gets one too! Lots of politics and egos and 10 gallon hats involved here.

My understanding is MD Anderson has been put in charge of most of the UT system cancer -- so for example UT San Antonio is now "UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer". Except for UTSW which escaped (for now) or so the story goes.

 

[yesmaster]

If I were to be dispassionate about this, which is hard, the UT Austin/MDA tie-up makes a lot of sense from a city- and state-building perspective. That's why you see Governor Abbott in the announcement.

If you look at any other top tier city, in terms of talent and economic power, they all have a major academic medical center. Silicon Valley has UCSF/Stanford. Seattle has UW. Los Angeles has UCLA. The big apple has NY Presbyterian. Boston has MGH/Brigham.

What does Austin have? Dell Medical School, in terms of its hospital and provider network, is a joke. It's tiny.

Texas Oncology may provide great care, but this sort of announcement seems like it's geared towards attracting the Facebook's and Samsung's of the world to Austin, TX. "Hello, world! And disillusioned moderates in progressive cities! We have music festivals, no taxes, and the best brand in cancer medicine, send us your tech talent and investment dollars." $2.5 billion, or the PPSE fees that MDA charges is peanuts compared to the incremental capital they're hoping to pull in across other industries (mostly tech and energy, probably).

Plus there are so many rich people in Austin, this sort of thing is like paying $15k for an LVMH handbag to them.

It does seem like their specialty hospital is DOA since the UT hospitals don't have a particularly strong brand outside of oncology, but maybe the MDA brand will create a halo effect.

Press briefing:

 

[NotMattSpraker]

If you look at any other top tier city, in terms of talent and economic power, they all have a major academic medical center. Silicon Valley has UCSF/Stanford. Seattle has UW. Los Angeles has UCLA. The big apple has NY Presbyterian. Boston has MGH/Brigham.

I agree. This doesn't seem like an affiliation, it seems like UT and MDACC are going to each build a hospital tower in town. Seems like a no-brainer for them and rough news for the existing hospitals.

I don't know a lot about the Austin market but just on googling there aren't really any strong brands in town. Probably was just a matter of time.

 

[theradiator]

But carving out cancer weakens the medical school put sucking out margin ie Moffitt and USF, Fox Chase and Temple and Roswell Park and SUNY Buffalo. Bad decision overall but we Americans love our brands like our handbags.

 

[RickyScott]

What is the population of the Austin metro area? It ihas zero sports Tirana?

 

[thecarbonionangle]

I actually think this will be very successful and an existential threat to the dominant practices in the area. The brand is very powerful in that part of the country. I foresee them building protons too.

 

[RickyScott]

But carving out cancer weakens the medical school put sucking out margin ie Moffitt and USF, Fox Chase and Temple and Roswell Park and SUNY Buffalo. Bad decision overall but we Americans love our brands like our handbags.

Not sure about Roswell park, but fox chase was bough by temple a few years ago. In the past it had a strong affiliation and nasty divorce with upenn. I think moffit also is totally separate from usf

 

[deleted1111261]

I think that’s what they thought in Phoenix, too. We had all the specialists at my main hospital that were private. All breast patients would get surgery, walk past our in-hospital center, and drive 5 miles away to the private guts. That site had 9 on when I started. I chiseled away and hit >25 at one point, but based on volume, should have always had 30+. Another one of our sites - same deal - but kept 2-6 on beam.

The super groups were just very good at maintaining their relationships. I did okay, but was tough. I saw almost 100 inpatients my first year.

They will do okay, but not by growing. It’s all zero sum.

 

[Mandelin Rain]

I know young people get old eventually, but Austin seems like the kind of town that will stay perpetually yuppie-ish, and move on once they age out of the work force. Some towns are just young peoples' towns, and Austin "feels" like one.

In 2021, in the USA, 16.8% of people were 65+ yo. In Austin, only 11.6% of people were 65+ yo.

Of note, older people "tend" to get more cancer than young ones, though Abbott's disdain for the EPA and regulations could flip that locally. Who knows?

 

[medgator]

Not sure about Roswell park, but fox chase was bough by temple a few years ago. In the past it had a strong affiliation and nasty divorce with upenn. I think moffit also is totally separate from usf

They are and it was an ugly divorce afaik. Tgh usf basically hiring and competing against them now

 

[evilbooyaa]

I mean, Austin is definitely a big enough city at this point to warrant there being some competition, especially in a no-CON state. I don't necessarily foresee either of these academic in name only locations doing well off the bat if PCPs and referrings are happy with the current arrangement. They're gonna need to hire PCPs to feed the surgeons/med oncs who will then need to feed the Rad Onc as I think breaking active referral patterns is going to very difficult.

 

[sirspamalot]

"Thank you sir (for the fat envelope) may I have another?"

 

[IonsAreOurFuture]

I actually think this will be very successful and an existential threat to the dominant practices in the area. The brand is very powerful in that part of the country. I foresee them building protons too.

Proton center announcement is probably not far behind..

 

[thecarbonionangle]

Proton center announcement is probably not far behind..

Take it to the bank!