Radiation oncologist Dr. Lane Rosen is a big believer in proton therapy—even if not everyone else in Louisiana’s medical community shares his view, Business Report details in its latest issue.
Over the past four years, Rosen has treated patients with the technology at Willis-Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, witnessing, he says, its success firsthand.
Proton therapy is an advanced treatment for certain cancers that uses beams of protons to deliver radiation directly to tumors, destroying cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues.
In 2017, plans for Baton Rouge and New Orleans proton therapy centers began to take shape, touted by Gov. John Bel Edwards and local leaders, with little mention of the center already running in Shreveport.
The planned $85 million Louisiana ProtonCare Center in Baton Rouge was among the biggest economic development announcements for the capital area last year.
But a degree of controversy and a few challenges followed the announcement.
One month after plans were unveiled, Baton Rouge General pulled out of the partnership with the proton therapy center, with hospital CEO Edgardo Tenreiro saying at the time that the treatment had “not demonstrated superior outcomes for the vast majority of cancers.”
A year later, plans for the New Orleans project fell through, while the Baton Rouge center—to be developed by local nonprofit Provident Resources Group—has been delayed and downsized, due primarily to projected low reimbursement rates from third-party insurers, which offer limited coverage from proton therapy.
And while the governor and his economic development chief support the project, the state’s top health official, Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee, does not.
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