Two proton centers are needed here
On Wednesday, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board will meet to consider an ongoing debate over two facilities that want to build an innovative proton-therapy cancer center. This technology would deliver radiation treatment more accurately than conventional x-ray therapies by detecting irradiation of tumors without harming surrounding, healthy tissue. The U.S. only has five operating facilities in the U.S. - and there are two facilities in Illinois seeking approval from the IHPB, including Central DuPage Hospital. Although both centers are not located in the Springfield area, this situation is another example with the bureaucracy and centralized planning agency of the IHPB that continues to make health care decisions that adversely impact Illinoisans.
In February, the health board granted Northern Illinois University permission to build a proton-therapy cancer center.
Meanwhile, they denied permission for a facility six miles away near Central DuPage Hospital. The central planners, none of whom appear to have any background in economics, decided there wasn't enough demand to support more than one center in Illinois - even though an estimated 6,700 potential patients live within 50 miles of the proposed facilities, and despite the fact the facilities can only accommodate 1,500 patients per year.
Annually, some 62,000 Illinoisans are diagnosed with cancer.
NIU believed a nearby competing facility could hurt their business. With a competitor offering the same service, NIU might have to charge less to compete for patients. So, NIU successfully lobbied the health board to protect their interest at the expense of suffering cancer patients.
NIU isn't the bad guy for protecting their interests. Instead, the blame lies with a state government that continues to prop up a discredited, centralized planning agency.
The board should grant approval for this second health care facility to combat cancer, and we argue this is another reason to scrap this board in the General Assembly.
Greg Blankenship
President, Illinois Policy Institute
Springfield