Reaching the Summit of cancer care

POST FALLS — Kim Ransier's eyes widened as she came upon the $4 million linear accelerator at the new Summit Cancer Center.

"I think this is wonderful," the executive director of Hospice of North Idaho said while touring the new 11,000-square-foot facility on the Northwest Specialty Hospital campus.

"People in North Idaho need access to choices for their health care, including cancer treatment."

Ransier was among the attendees of Wednesday night's grand opening of the center at 1641 E. Polston Ave.

The business is owned by a group of local physicians and Select HealthCare Solutions, a private, for-profit firm based near San Diego that has helped develop 13 cancer centers throughout the West in the past nine years.

Matt Cutler, Select HealthCare Solutions president and CEO, said the Post Falls center is a "natural expansion" of Summit's Spokane CyberKnife Radiation Oncology Center in Spokane Valley that opened two years ago.

"We see patients from Post Falls and farther there, so physicians in the Post Falls area asked us to come closer to them," Cutler said. "It made sense to bring the technology to the patients."

The facility opened two weeks ago.

"We anticipate we'll see 30 to 40 patients a day," Cutler said.

Summit's medical oncology staff includes Drs. Arvind Chaudhry, who is the medical director, Brian Samuels, Bruce Cutter and Naseer Ahmad. The radiation oncology team consists of Drs. Karie-Lynn Kelly, Frank Lamm and Trent Mihalick.

"I've know Dr. Chaudhry for more than 20 years, and he puts his patients first," Ransier said. "I believe that's the basis of him helping start this facility."

Chaudhry said the center was built to bring cancer care closer to patients.

"Why subject people to parking garages and long drives?" he said. "This gives the community and patients a choice. It's a fully integrated cancer center with state-of-the-art technology. We want to bring care given to those in big cities here."

In addition to medical and radiation oncologists, the center includes nurse practitioners, pharmacists and a radiation treatment center. It offers consultations, chemotherapy and diagnostic testing and lab services to identify and treat cancer.

Samuels and Ahmad were medical oncologists at Northwest Specialty Hospital before Select HealthCare Solutions acquired the practice. The hospital had offered medical oncology services, but not radiation oncology. Summit integrates both under one roof.

"This center will offer one-stop shopping for cancer patients in North Idaho," Cutler said.

In association with the Seattle CancerCare Alliance, patients will have access to advanced treatment by participating in clinical trials.

The center employs 30 people and, of those positions, half are new jobs, Cutler said.

The business is leasing space from the joint venture that was formed between the hospital and Select.

Rick Rasmussen, Northwest Specialty Hospital CEO, said the addition of the center to the community will provide greater competition in the cancer care field, which helps the public.

"This raises everybody's game," he said.

Physicians own the majority of Summit Cancer Center, whereas some other medical facilities are managed by administrators.

Select HealthCare provides business support and funding for physician-controlled health care projects.

"It allows physicians to bring in equipment they wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable financing on their own," Cutler said.

He said Select HealthCare is considering opening other cancer centers in the Inland Northwest, possibly in downtown Spokane, the northern part of Spokane Valley, Lewiston or Boise.