Cookeville Regional Medical Center entering a partnership with the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center to have Vanderbilt employees on-site in the CRMC Cancer Center.
CEO Buffy Key said Cookeville Regional oncologists will collaborate with Vanderbilt physicians and mid-level physicians. She said the hospital sends some patients to Nashville for treatment now, but the partnership will allow more Upper Cumberland patients to get treatment locally.
“In the healthcare world today, you just about cannot survive without partnerships,” Key said. “We’re still a community hospital, we’ll remain that community hospital, but by doing this, it’s just a win-win for everybody because we’re powered by those experts at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.”
Key said the partnership will alleviate some of the difficulty in recruiting oncologists. She said Vanderbilt conducts rare clinical trials and research that will be valuable resources now that they will be closer to home.
“We’re really just taking our cancer care to the next level and improving our partnerships,” Key said.
She said breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and lung cancer are the three most common in the hospital, but this partnership could open the door to a wider array of studies and trials. Key said the types of cancers treated and the ability to treat more serious cases locally would be part of this expansion.
Key said as the volume grows, the hospital’s providers could begin to grow as well.
“We’ll just see where this takes us,” Key said. “Our goal is to serve the community and to make sure that they have everything they need right here. And in doing that, if we need to increase the providers, Vanderbilt will greatly work with us on that.”
Cookeville Regional’s Cancer Center opened in 1996 and she is excited to see this partnership elevate it.
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