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The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania led the region in cancer surgery volume last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Council.
The analysis by the independent state agency looked at surgeries performed on patients with 11 types of cancer at Pennsylvania hospitals during fiscal 2023, which ended June 30. Those included cancer of the brain, colon, esophagus, liver, lung, pancreas, rectum and stomach. For the first time, the report also included surgical procedures for three cancer types — bladder, breast and prostate — performed at ambulatory surgery centers.
“The additional outpatient information now included in our cancer surgery volume report provides further insight into the changing landscape of health care in Pennsylvania," said Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Council Executive Director Barry D. Buckingham. "[We] believe this information will be helpful to stakeholders including cancer patients, families, and caregivers, when making decisions about cancer surgical care in Pennsylvania."
According to the report, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia performed 2,250 oncological surgeries to lead all hospitals in the five-county area for volume.
Locally, Fox Chase Cancer Center, part of Temple Health, performed the second most surgeries at 1,570. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital ranked third with 934.
Fox Chase Cancer Center and Penn's Abramson Cancer Center are both National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers. Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center is an NCI-designated clinical cancer center. These designations differ in that an NCI-designated cancer center has met NCI standards for cancer prevention, clinical services or research, whereas a comprehensive center has met the NCI standards for all three categories.
In the Philadelphia suburbs, three medical centers performed more than 500 cancer surgeries each last year. Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood led the suburban Philadelphia rankings with 617, followed by Bryn Mawr Hospital at 564. Both are part of Main Line Health. Third in the suburban rankings was Penn’s Chester County Hospital in West Chester at 513.
Combined, the University of Pennsylvania Health System comfortably led the region with 4,074 cancer surgeries in fiscal 2023. It was followed by Jefferson Health at 2,776, Temple Health at 2,351 and Main Line Health at 1,818.
The most common target of the 11 surgeries in the report was breast cancer. HUP performed 609 such surgeries, slightly more than Pennsylvania Hospital's 571 surgeries. Fox Chase Cancer Center ranked third for breast cancer surgeries at 476.
According to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Council, the percentage of cancer surgeries over the past five years that were performed in outpatient settings — whether at a hospital or an ambulatory surgery center — increased for prostate cancer from 25% in fiscal 2019 to 57% in fiscal 2023. The percentage of breast cancer surgeries performed in outpatient settings also increased, from 87% to 94%, during that same time period. The percentage of bladder surgeries performed in outpatient settings decreased slightly, from 85% to 84%.
