Working Together to Provide Superior Cancer Care
For more than 30 years, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health patients benefited from the nationally recognized multidisciplinary expertise and resources available through our status as a founding member of the Penn Cancer Network.
Penn Medicine developed CAR-T cell therapy, a groundbreaking technique for retraining the body’s T cells. CAR-T was first approved for treating leukemia, a type of blood cancer. Today, CAR-T therapies are being developed around the world to create living medicines customized to the patient’s own biology. At Penn Medicine and across the world, immunotherapies are now being developed for diseases beyond cancer, like HIV and Multiple Sclerosis.
As our collaborative efforts strengthened through joining Penn Medicine, the drive for excellence in cancer care has accelerated. Two important developments in 2018 help illustrate how our growing partnership further benefits patients.
The Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute was nationally recognized as a top performing cancer center in Medicare’s innovative Oncology Care Model. The goal of the OCM program is to improve patient outcomes through patient engagement, use of evidence-based pathways for care, and attention to cost and value of care. Physicians and staff from the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute have shared their expertise and experience in practice transformation and innovation with physicians and staff at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center as it seeks to improve outcomes and efficiency.
This year, the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute and Abramson Cancer Center also established a formal telemedicine services agreement that enables patients in Lancaster to connect with experts in Philadelphia for the diagnosis and treatment of certain blood disorders using cell therapies pioneered at Penn Medicine. This service makes it easier for residents in the Lancaster area to access cutting-edge treatments for which they would otherwise have to travel to Philadelphia.
This type of collaboration and coordination with our colleagues throughout Penn Medicine is bringing direct benefits to cancer patients in our community. These innovations, along with the long-standing cooperation in cancer research and surgical services between LG Health and Penn Medicine, reflect our commitment to offering residents of Lancaster County the most advanced services for cancer care.