CLEVELAND 鈥� It鈥檚 difficult to imagine that a seven-story glass building will soon take the place of what鈥檚 now a vast hole near the corner of Carnegie Avenue and 105th Street in Cleveland. But Cliff Kazmierczak, who is with and overseeing the transformation, points to the gray sky, tracing a silhouette with his fingertips. In two years, he says, the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 nearly $300 million cancer center is slated to open here.
鈥淭he big thing is to make the patient comfortable with the treatments that they鈥檙e going through,鈥� he says of the building鈥檚 design. 鈥淪o lighting, light colors, [and] as much natural light as possible are always very important to cancer patients.鈥�
Cliff Kazmierczak of Turner Construction stands overlooking the construction site for the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 planned cancer outpatient center. (Sarah Jane Tribble/WCPN)
Kazmierczak came to this project after overseeing construction of the cancer hospital at a few hours south of here. All around the U.S., the health care industry is building up to take care of an expected influx of cancer patients.
Ohio is not alone in this building boom. The , a firm that does health care consulting, works with hospitals and doctors. Last year it found that about 25 percent of its members that have oncology departments were either constructing a cancer center, or had built one in the past three years. The Advisory Board鈥檚 says people are more likely to get cancer as they get older.
鈥淣ow that everyone is looking forward and seeing the aging of the baby boomers,鈥� she says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 certainly adding some fuel to that fire.鈥�
And most boomers will get health insurance through Medicare 鈥� which is a steady paycheck for hospitals.
heads the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 cancer institute. He says hospitals have to meet the need.
鈥淚n the past five years, volumes go up, depending on location, between 5 and 10 percent a year,鈥� Bolwell says. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 no end in sight to that volume of growth.鈥�
The Cleveland Clinic, along with its local competitor, University Hospitals, treat about 70 percent of the region鈥檚 cancer patients. And when the Cleveland Clinic opens its new center, the two will be located within a five minute drive of each other.
Historically, state governments have required hospitals to meet a 聽before building a hospital. But beginning in the late 1980s, states across the country began deregulating. Ohio鈥檚 certificate of need requirements for hospitals ended in the late 1990s, though it still requires it for long-term care facilities.
, who heads the cancer center at University Hospitals, doesn鈥檛 seem worried about the competition. His 4-year-old hospital, he says, is mostly full every day.
An architectural rendering of the Cleveland Clinic鈥檚 planned cancer center. (Courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic)
鈥淲e discharged over 11,000 patients with cancer in 2014,鈥� Levitan says, 鈥渨hich is about a 20 percent increase over just a few years beforehand.鈥�
He says that鈥檚 because both hospitals employ and contract with thousands of doctors. And in the world of cancer care, doctors have a lot of influence.
People usually don鈥檛 shop for cancer treatment until they are diagnosed, and at that moment their doctor鈥檚 advice on where to go matters a lot.
leads a hospital advocacy group in Cleveland. He says that with so many expected patients, building is good for a hospital鈥檚 bottom line and good for patients.
鈥淚f you can run enough procedures through a facility, you鈥檙e going to get some economies of scale that will generate [a profit] margin,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he other thing you get when you run enough procedures through a facility, is a level of expertise that improves the quality of care that the individual gets.鈥�
And when talking about the future of cancer care, hospital leaders tend to talk about quality. They insist that focusing on the quality of care will eventually lower the cost to patients, too.
This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, WCPN and .