Shawnee Mission Medical Center will open $5.5M outpatient cancer center

Shawnee Mission Medical Center has begun work on a $5.5 million outpatient cancer center in Merriam that is expected to open in July.

The center will offer a full array of oncology services, including medical oncology and infusion and radiation therapies. The center will be on the first floor of the Santa Fe medical office building on the hospital’s main campus near Interstate 35 and 75th Street, according to an announcement Thursday.

Shawnee Mission had operated an outpatient cancer treatment center on its campus in a partnership with the University of Kansas Hospital, but that arrangement ended last month.

The hospital’s outpatient facility will complement its other oncology programs, including its surgical and inpatient services and its accredited breast treatment center. The medical center’s physicians and staff diagnose more than 1,000 cases of cancer a year, said Ken Bacon, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.

The $5.5 million expansion covers the equipment and facility costs. The hospital recently hired medical oncologist Frank Slovick and expects to add one more oncologist in the next six months, said Shannon Cates, a spokeswoman for Shawnee Mission.

“The long-term plan is to have four oncologists on staff,” she said.

When it opens in the middle of this year, the outpatient center will have a staff of about 25, Cates said. Becca Bell has been named the center’s program director.

This story was originally published April 4, 2013 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission Medical Center will open $5.5M outpatient cancer center."