Sutter Health unveils plan for $380 million cancer center at Modesto hospital. What to know
Sutter Health said Wednesday it will build a $380 million cancer center at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto.
The major investment by the Sacramento-based nonprofit health system aims to meet the demand for health services as the population grows in the Central Valley, Sutter officials said in a news release.
The four-story, 165,000-square-foot cancer center will be built on the Memorial Medical Center campus, at Briggsmore Avenue and Coffee Road. The center is expected to open in 2028 or 2029.
“This new cancer center will significantly accelerate our ability to provide advanced cancer care locally for Central Valley residents,” Gino Patrizio, president of Sutter Health’s Greater Central Valley area, said in the news release. “This investment reaffirms our commitment to providing exceptional care and strengthens our position as a leading health care system in the region.”
Sutter said the regional center will serve patients from Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Merced and other counties. Features of the diagnostic and treatment center were outlined in the release.
To make room for the four-story cancer center, a demolition crew will take down the existing building at 1800 Coffee Road, at the northeast corner of Coffee and Spanos Court, a Sutter spokeswoman said.
The first two floors of the complex will be designed for clinic visits, laboratory, imaging, infusion, radiation therapy and pharmacy services. Some patients may choose to add Sutter’s complementary therapies, such as support groups, art, music and movement therapy, as a way to manage symptoms and side effects.
An ambulatory surgery center on the third floor will including operating rooms, four procedure rooms and extra space for expansion.
More than 25 clinicians will see patients in outpatient clinics on the fourth floor, where 50 examination rooms are planned.
“The center will also feature greater access to clinical trials,” the news release said. “By centralizing all services, patients can access all their care in one place, closer to home.”
The Modesto center also may connect patients with advanced Sutter cancer specialists in the Bay Area and Sacramento.
The eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley are projected to add 4.7 million residents in the next 35 years, according to the state Department of Finance. Cancer diagnoses are expected to increase proportionately.
Stanislaus County’s cancer mortality rate was 157.1 per 100,000 residents in a public health report released in late 2022, which was well above the statewide rate of 131.4.
Sutter Gould Medical Foundation has plans to recruit 56 clinicians for the cancer center at Memorial. The large majority will practice in the cancer center and outpatient surgery. About 30% of the recruited practitioners will work in the outpatient clinics.
“This cancer center will bring together different cancer care specialists to perform advanced diagnostic testing and treatments, including molecular testing, specialized surgeries, radiation treatment, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and other advanced cancer therapies,” said Dr. Allen Li, the section chief of oncology for Sutter Gould.
Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen also weighed in with a comment. “Sutter’s latest investment toward better health care access is significant,” she said in the news release. “As an elected representative of this city, I understand how robust health care services can transform a community and make it more dynamic.”
Sutter Health operates two dozen hospitals and more than 200 clinics in Northern California in the Bay Area, Sacramento region and Northern San Joaquin Valley.
The Modesto project is part of a Sutter expansion plan to add 27 ambulatory care centers by 2027 and 160 hospital beds by 2025.
Sutter’s Memorial Medical Center recently received national accreditation for an internal medicine residency and a training program for family practice physicians. The hospital will serve as a training site for 26 resident physicians in the internal medicine program starting in June 2025. A family medicine residency with 13 doctors-in-training will also begin next June.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Sutter Health unveils plan for $380 million cancer center at Modesto hospital. What to know."
