Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance have merged, creating an organization that aims to bring scientific advances to patients faster, and deepens longstanding ties with UW Medicine.
Under the restructuring formally launched on April 1, Fred Hutch and SCCA are united as a single, independent, not-for-profit organization now called Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. The unified organization will be a clinically integrated part of UW Medicine and UW Medicine’s cancer program.
“Today’s milestone is a tremendous step toward our vision of decreasing the time between discovery and delivery of the most advanced treatments for our patients,” said Fred Hutch President and Director and Raisbeck Endowed Chair holder Dr. Thomas J. Lynch, Jr., who held the same titles at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center before the merger.
Although the organization has a new name, Lynch stressed that Fred Hutch’s dedication to research excellence remains unchanged. He said those scientific endeavors will only be enhanced by a streamlined organizational structure and tighter integration with clinical care. The organization’s commitment to scientific research in vaccines and infectious diseases, basic and human biology, computational science and public health is the same as before the merger, as is its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and to reducing health disparities.
Lynch, UW Medicine CEO Dr. Paul Ramsey and other key leaders celebrated the formation of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center this morning at an opening day ceremony on the Fred Hutch campus.
“We are creating a cancer center that is committed to compassionate, connected patient care that puts the patient and family at front and center,” Lynch said. “We are committed to discovery and science, because the very best care is rooted in science.”
Noting that more than 600,000 Americans die of cancer each year, he said the way to come up with better treatments is “when you connect an extraordinary clinical facility with the best science anywhere.”
SCCA was formed 20 years ago by Fred Hutch, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s to provide cancer clinical care services for the three institutions. With today’s launch of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle Children’s will focus on pediatric cancer care, and Fred Hutch and UW Medicine will more tightly coordinate adult cancer care. The SCCA name will be retired later this year, and a new Fred Hutch brand will be introduced to signify the completion of the integration.
Although the pediatric clinical care program, including bone marrow transplants, will move to newly completed facilities at Seattle Children’s, Lynch said the research collaborations between the Hutch and Seattle Children’s will continue unchanged.
Under a new management services agreement, Fred Hutch will also provide managerial oversight for those services at UW Medical Center that exclusively provide cancer care, such as oncology infusion and radiation oncology. Although Fred Hutch and UW Medicine will continue to operate independent medical centers, cancer care will be “clinically integrated” — an arrangement that allows two medical organizations to coordinate care seamlessly across different settings.
“Our vision is to make life beyond cancer a reality for our patients. This is really an evolution of our legacy of innovation, focus on clinical outcomes and excellence in care for our patients,” said Ramsey, in remarks at the morning celebration.
“Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, together with UW Medicine, will accelerate the development, evaluation, and use of cancer treatments and discoveries in adult patients with cancer,” he said.
Ramsey explained that this new “deeply integrated relationship” will help the two organizations align their clinical care teams, leadership teams and business planning. He predicted important, tangible changes for patients, including improved cancer screening, surveillance, early diagnosis, and a focus on treatment, survivorship and broader availability of cancer services.
“The patient is at the center of what we are doing,” he said.
Ramsey also stressed the importance of ensuring that the benefits of cancer research be accessible to all. “We will be applying a health equity lens to all that we do, to provide the best cancer care services in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer for all patients,” he said.
A key goal of this clinical integration will be to reduce the duplicative efforts currently required to set up clinical trials, the avenue through which patients have the best opportunity to access advanced, experimental cancer research. Hutch leaders said the streamlining will improve access to these trials for patients, bringing clinical research and care closer together.
Dr. Terry McDonnell, chief nursing officer for Fred Hutch, said that being “integrated as a single team will provide even more hope for the people we serve.”
