Representatives from Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) and a business partner testified at a hearing of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) that there is a need for more than one proton cancer treatment center in Illinois.

Strong comments were made in the four and one-half hour hearing at the Warrenville city hall both for and against a proposal for a second facility in the western suburbs.

The newest proposal, following on the heels of IHFPB approval of Northern Illinois University’s plans to build a proton center in the DuPage National Technology Park in West Chicago during the next 24 months, calls for a partnership between CDH and ProCure Treatment Centers to build a $140 million facility in Warrenville.

In addition to health care benefits, Warrenville Mayor David Brummel said the project will add nearly 100 highly skilled permanent jobs and support approximately 400 construction and trade jobs during the building phase.

He also said the facility in the Cantera development will generate significant tax revenues for the community. The City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the construction of this facility.

The NIU project is one of several in the planning stage at various locations in the United States. Currently there are five of these types of treatment center around the country.

DuPage County government officials spoke both for and against the CDH proposal.

Mark Avery of the county’s economic development department read a statement from Chairman Robert Schillerstrom that said he was not convinced of the need for a second facility. The chairman said approval of a second facility could negatively impact both facilities and that two centers were not a viable option.

Testifying later for the CDH proposal was county board member Brien Sheahan, who said that the chairman’s statements were not an official position of the county.

“I don’t want to see this application manipulated,” he said. “We can not sit on our hands and allow unnecessary roadblocks.” Sheahan stated that two facilities of this type were needed and that they would help the area’s reputation for having quality medical facilities.

Luke McGuinness, president and chief executive officer of CDH, said there is more than enough demand for this treatment to support multiple proton facilities in the area.

“There is unanimity among the advocates of protons that this therapy can hold the key to successfully treating many cancer patients. However, some want to ration this treatment,” he said. “Some say we must go slow and prevent some from developing this technology while letting only a small capacity come on line.”

McGuinness noted that the discussion is about a brand new technology for Illinois, one that is in high demand wherever it is available and one that is not a practical option for many because of the lack of access.

“One proton center will come nowhere near meeting the need of patients in the Chicago area alone,” he said. “And when it comes to treating cancer, going slowly is never the best approach.”

John Henderson, chief operating officer of ProCure Treatment Centers, one of CDH’s partners in the proton center proposal, said he wanted to correct some of the misinformation that was out there.

“This hearing was requested by those you have heard from today who do not want to see this cancer treatment facility built—that would be NIU. Their charges are all misinformed and often just plain wrong.”

Henderson noted that opponents say that so few centers is evidence that there isn’t a need for that many. The ProCure executive said the limited number of proton centers is only evidence that these facilities are difficult to develop, finance and run.

“If we didn’t believe the need existed, we wouldn’t be making the huge financial commitment to this project,” Henderson said, noting that staff members at another partner, Radiation Oncology Consultants (ROC) in Park Ridge, have testified that they see enough patients needing proton therapy that almost 80 percent of the facility’s capacity would be filled.

The ProCure executive also stated that NIU representatives would want people to believe that somehow a state college with absolutely no experience treating patients or operating a health care facility of any kind would be a better “steward” of health care.

“We believe that the largest hospital in DuPage County and the largest radiation oncology group in Illinois are far more qualified,” he said. “The claims by NIU’s leaders that we somehow will put money before patients are insulting and beneath the dignity of the health care professionals involved in this project.”

An ROC partner said opponents to the Cantera facility want to have it both ways.

“I think it is disingenuous for those who oppose our project to, on the one hand, argue that this is great, that this is a burgeoning technology, that it is going to revolutionize the way we treat cancer and that we should make it available to all patients; yet at the same time say we don’t want more than one facility in our area,” said Patrick Sweeny, a partner in Radiation Oncology Consultants.

A key NIU official offered a different view.

“First and most importantly, we believe that a second proton treatment center within miles of our approved site would result in redundant and duplicative service,” said Eddie Williams, executive vice president and chief of operations at NIU.

He said extensive research by the university shows that the potential number of patients contained in the ProCure application is unrealistic and greatly exaggerated at this time.

“These treatment facilities are capital intensive and very expensive, and this duplication would be very costly.”

Another point made by Williams was that with rapid escalation of health care costs, ProCure is proposing a for-profit model that, if approved, would result in the diversion of private pay patients to its privately held facility.

He said that would leaved the NIU proton treatment center to treat Medicaid and under-insured patients and further strain already limited state resources.