Radiation oncology providers form nonprofit network in bid to preserve independence

Radiation oncology providers are forming a network of nonprofit clinics in a bid to preserve their independence. 

The Anoma Cancer Collective is an assembly of eight community-based oncology providers across five states. They’re banding together to provide shared access to capital and services, operational infrastructure and long-term strategic support. 

Radiation Business Solutions—a consulting firm based in Joelton, Tennessee—is guiding the effort. It noted that the initiative was necessary to help centers adapt to an “evolving healthcare landscape” while avoiding consolidation. 

“We believe community cancer care is worth fighting for,” those involved said in a news announcement shared Thursday morning. “Physicians should not have to surrender their independence to survive, and families deserve care close to home from teams who know their communities, understand their stories, and stand beside them through the hardest moments of their lives.”

“ACC is not simply a response to reimbursement cuts, insurance games, hospital politics, CPT changes, or consolidation,” they added later. “It is an intentional movement away from a healthcare system that too often treats physicians like vendors and patients like transactions, and back toward the doctor-patient relationship.”

Over the past 18 months, Radiation Business Solutions estimated it has invested over $10 million in time, resources, legal work and financial structuring into the endeavor. This was aimed at creating a care model “strong enough to serve physicians and families for the long term.” 

RBS said the investment community has twice affirmed its support for the Anoma Cancer Collective. Several institutional investors returned for a second nonprofit financing with RBS after seeing the performance and impact of the first nonprofit structure, the Aurora Integrated Oncology Foundation, in Alaska. Those involved believe investors’ continued interest reflects “confidence in the model and in RBS’s ability to execute.” 

Through the nonprofit structure, participating centers gain access to tax-exempt financing, shared infrastructure, bond market funding and operational expertise. ACC also provides a platform for philanthropy, expanded services and long-term investment. 

Radiation Business Solutions said it was supported by institutional investors Baird Advisors and Capital Research and Management Company. Both were previous partners in the financing of the Aurora Integrated Oncology Foundation. RBS also said it is welcomed a new investment partner, First Eagle Investment Management, while Loop Capital Markets again served as underwriter for the transaction. 

Those involved also have worked directly with local civic leaders in the communities served by the collective. RBS said it has met with city and county elected leaders, who have expressed support for keeping cancer care “accessible, sustainable and community based.” Investors have commissioned RBS to help grow the collective by 60%, first through additional oncology sites and then by exploring the model’s potential in other medical specialties facing similar pressures. To date, Radiation Business Solutions has placed over $300 million in bonds with radiation centers. 

“This touches the core of healthcare, not only for oncology providers, but for physicians across specialties who are trying to protect the relationship between doctor and patient,” Dan Moore, CEO of Radiation Business Solutions, said in a statement July 9. “Community providers should not have to choose between independence and stability. When the burdens facing physicians can be matched with the right economic structure and incentives, patients, families, physicians, staff and communities all benefit. This is why we built ACC.” 

Here are the participating clinics: 

• Lone Star Mission Oncology Network, Live Oak, Texas. 
• Lone Star Mission Oncology Network, San Antonio, Texas. 
• CurePoint Cancer Center, Dublin, Georgia. 
• Northeastern Oklahoma Cancer Institute, Claremore, Oklahoma. 
• Mission Oncology, Dothan, Alabama. 
• Mission Oncology, Marianna, Florida.
• Mission Oncology, Andalusia, Alabama. 
• Mission Oncology, Enterprise, Alabama.