How leveraging the power of in-house hereditary cancer testing improves patient outcomes with a competitive edge

As healthcare providers hone their strategies for strengthening access to care, improving health outcomes, and satisfying patients, innovative cancer testing and personalized medicine are increasingly at the forefront. Solaris Health, a national healthcare platform, is one such organization that is helping to advance those aims.

Becker’s Hospital Review recently spoke with two clinical leaders at Solaris Health about their decision to bring hereditary cancer testing in-house for its affiliates:

• Deepak Kapoor, MD, Solaris Health chair, chief ecosystem officer and president of Integrated Medical Professionals (IMP), Solaris’ New York Metro Market affiliate; and
• Kathleen Latino, MD, Solaris Health chief medical officer and IMP’s medical director.

Read the article here.

We are pleased to announce that Integrated Medical Professionals is the proud recipient of the 2023 rater8 Practice Excellence Award for Highest Rated Practice Overall!

Rater8’s annual awards recognize practices and providers who demonstrated outstanding commitment to delivering unparalleled patient experiences. Recognition is based on the internal ratings collected via rater8 surveys, which saw 5.7 million questions answered in 2023.

We thank rater8 for this recognition, and will continue to dedicate ourselves to the highest possible standard for patient experience and practice improvement! Please join us in celebrating this achievement, and visit rater8’s blog to check out the official announcement: https://rater8.com/blog/2023-practice-excellence-awards/

Physicians at medical practices affiliated with Solaris Health, the nation’s leading healthcare management company in the urological field, are the first throughout the country to provide a new technology that substantially enhances safety for patients undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. (November 2, 2023) – Prostate cancer patients treated at Advanced Radiation Centers of New York (ARC) became the first in the United States to benefit from the implantation of a novel biodegradable rectal spacer – The BioProtect Balloon Implant System. These pioneering implant procedures were performed by Dr. Shawn H. Zimberg, Medical Director at ARC, a division of Integrated Medical Professionals (IMP). IMP is a Solaris Health affiliate.

As the prostate and rectum are separated by mere millimeters, the rectum is at risk for collateral damage during radiation therapy for prostate cancer, potentially leading to serious and sometimes sustained side effects. The only prior solution to decrease radiation exposure to the rectum during prostate cancer radiation was to inject a synthetic gel-like material to create a “space” to separate the prostate and rectum. Now, rather than a gel, the novel biodegradable pre-formed saline-filled BioProtect Balloon® can create nearly double the protective space between the prostate and rectum during radiation therapy.

“We know that creating space separating the prostate and rectum decreases rectal complications, as well as urinary and sexual risks that can occur following prostate radiation therapy,” Dr. Zimberg stated, adding, “So by creating an even larger and symmetrical space that the BioProtect Balloon achieves, we expect to see even more improvements in patient safety.”

Developed by medical device maker BioProtect, Ltd., the BioProtect Balloon Spacer received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration in August of this year. The BioProtect Balloon spacer is a pre-defined shape, creating a symmetric and reproducible space, which is not typically achievable with gel spacers. In addition, the BioProtect Balloon spacer fully dissolves within six months, much faster than the currently available gel-based spacers.

To date, 35 patients have received this novel therapy. Dr. Zimberg continued, “This technology is truly game-changing – the predictable shape of the BioProtect Balloon spacer vastly improves radiation planning and delivery, further enhancing safety benefits for our patients.”

Thomas Schmidt, a 63-year-old elite wellness travel agent from Rockville Centre, NY, is among the initial recipients of the balloon spacer. “First and foremost, I want to be cured of prostate cancer,” Schmidt said. “Beyond that, I feel fortunate to have had this new technology, which will make my treatments safer and more predictable.”

Dr. Deepak Kapoor, Chair and Chief Ecosystem Officer of Solaris Health, stated, “Doctors at practices affiliated with Solaris are committed to providing their patients access to cutting-edge technologies that both enhance safety and improve outcomes. We’re proud that Solarisaffiliated practices and their providers across the country will be among the first to offer this important adjunct to radiation therapy protocols.” ARC’s Dr. Zimberg also serves as National Director of Radiation Oncology for Solaris Health.

BioProtect CEO Itay Barnea underscored the significance of the adoption of his company’s balloon spacer system by Dr. Zimberg and other radiation oncologists and urologists at Solarisaffiliated practices. “This is an invaluable opportunity for us to work with a group of doctors who are national leaders in elevating quality of care and in pursuing the most advanced technologies to treat prostate cancer,” Barnea said.

There are 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer a year in the United States and 34,700 deaths from prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind lung cancer. Thomas Schmidt and other men who are initial recipients of the BioProtect Balloon Spacer have non-metastatic and potentially curable prostate cancers.

About Advanced Radiation Centers of New York
Advanced Radiation Centers of New York (“ARC”) is the largest freestanding radiation oncology facility in the New York metropolitan and neighboring Tri-State area, treating all forms of cancer in eight state-of-the-art cancer treatment facilities.

About Solaris Health
Solaris Health is the leading U.S. healthcare management company in the urological field. Its affiliated medical practices have over 625 providers who annually care for over 885,000 unique patients in 13 states. These practices and their providers are committed to enhancing access to specialty healthcare and continually improving patient outcomes. Empowering community providers allows them to make sure that every decision they make puts patient care at the forefront. Solaris Health is growing to meet the changing needs of healthcare providers, and to help them develop innovative ways to better deliver value and state-of-the-art care to their patients. Solaris Health is proud to be among the most innovative healthcare management companies in the United States. Visit www.solarishealthpartners.com.

About BioProtect
BioProtect is a technology platform company that provides innovative biodegradable spacing solutions. BioProtect’s first application, commercially available in the US and Europe, is the BioProtect Balloon Implant System, a new generation spacer designed to provide optimal, consistent, and reproducible protection to the rectum during prostate cancer radiation therapy. For more information about BioProtect and their products, please visit www.BioProtect.com.

Download the Press Release PDF

77WABC Remembers Bernard McGuirk One Year Later Presented By Advanced Radiation Centers of New York: Special Guest Dr. Shawn Zimberg

Listen to the podcast here.

Newsday released their annual Castle Connolly LI Top Doctors’ magazine issue which lists the 1,000+ Long Island top physicians.

See Newsday magazine’s July 2023 issue, and the AUCNY and ARC doctors on page 9 of the special advertising feature.

If you visited an Advanced Radiation Centers of New York (ARC) facility since the onset of the pandemic, you have experienced the special care taken to keep patients and staff safe. ARC’s TV spot acknowledged the changes and assured patients that all precautionary safety measures are in place in the updated 2021 TV spot. View the spot by clicking on this link.

Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield has agreed to reverse a decision made last month to no longer cover services oncological patients receive from facilities run by Integrated Medical Professionals of Farmingdale. Its 52 locations serviced 1300 Long Islanders, including East Enders who already had to drive up the island to find a facility to receive treatment.

In an interview, Dr. Kapoor said his company didn’t agree to any conditions but rather made Empire understand his company is the most cost-effective road for the HMO to take. “We didn’t take a hit. We are the value provider of services. We have better outcomes at a lower cost,” he said.

To learn more, read the story here.

Survey Respondents Influenced by Claims

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising about the radiotherapy (RT) known as CyberKnife (CK), which is currently omnipresent in the New York City transit system, creates “inaccurate impressions” about the treatment’s “comparative effectiveness and safety” in prostate cancer, according to new research.

That conclusion was made by investigators from Columbia University Medical Center after they created an online survey involving 400 men that used language lifted directly from an advertisement. The investigators compared the participants’ responses to the CyberKnife advertisement to responses to information about other prostate cancer treatments.

The results may surprise you. Read about the findings here.

Last month, the insurer said it was removing Integrated Medical Professionals of Farmingdale, a urology and radiation oncology practice, and Port Jefferson Station-based New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, from its Medicare Advantage HMO and Dual Special Needs Plan networks.

Dr. Deepak Kapoor, Integrated Medical’s chairman and CEO, said “we met with senior staff [at Empire] and it wasn’t at all a difficult conversation. We offer high-quality, lower-cost, value-based care. We were hoping the adults would talk to each other, and that’s what happened. For more information about the BC/BS decision reversal, read the article here.

CMS is letting radiation oncologists bill some E/Ms with superficial radiation therapy (SRT) that had previously been bundled. But those providers should look out: this may be a preliminary step before CMS puts in new regulations that may shake up their reimbursement. (more…)