Northwell Health expands access to cancer care

Northwell Health opened up a new cancer center in Queens last year, and Dr. Richard Barakat is still beaming with pride.

Barakat is the physician in chief and executive director of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute. He also grew up in Queens, one of New York City’s five boroughs. He went to Flushing High School and Queens College.

“I'm a Queens guy,” he says. “So to say that I'm passionate about that is an understatement.”

Barakat says it’s one of a number of steps Northwell Health has undertaken to expand access to top-flight cancer care across New York. Given his roots in New York City, it’s something that means a great deal to Barakat.

“The best outcomes in cancer occur when patients are enrolled in novel therapeutics and cutting-edge cancer clinical trials,” he says. “That's a lot harder than it seems. We have to improve access to trials for these patients.”

Barakat sat down with Chief Healthcare Executive® for an interview at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago. He was in the city giving an address at the Becker’s Oncology Executive Summit, which took place during the Becker’s Healthcare 16th Annual Meeting.

He talked about Northwell’s efforts to open up more cancer centers and reach underserved patients. He discussed promising strides in care, and overcoming the practical barriers to treatment.

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The standard isn’t enough

Many patients in and around New York City may not be too many miles away from novel cancer treatments, but they still may not be able to get what they need.

“We are building more cancer centers because we want to bring the best available treatments to all of our diverse patients,” Barakat says.

He points to the new cancer center in Queens, which he notes is one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world.

“There are over 130 spoken languages in Queens,” Barakat says. “Cancer care cannot just be in English and Spanish. There are many other languages. We have a medical group of oncologists that we hired, and between the physicians, the nurses and the staff, that group speaks over 30 different languages. And that's extremely important when you want to bring cutting-edge treatments and cancer clinical trials to diverse populations.”

Northwell recently opened another cancer center on Staten Island.

“Staten Island is an underserved area,” he says. “You have to cross a bridge if you want to get treatment, either in New Jersey or treatment in Manhattan, and we built a fantastic state of the art cancer center in Staten Island.”

Barakat talks about the importance of putting more doctors in communities to talk to patients about clinical trials. But some patients simply can’t afford to go into the heart of the city for trials and treatment.

“We need to bring those trials to patients, because those patients have unique needs,” Barakat says. “They may not be able to afford transportation or afford parking, they may not have care services to take care of their children or family members.

“All of those issues need to be addressed so that those patients can have access to the same cutting-edge treatments that will provide them the best outcomes that patients who can get to those academic centers will receive,” he says.

Barakat says he is excited that more novel therapies are becoming available. And he says those new treatments are needed.

“The standard of care is not good enough,” Barakat says. “We can't just treat patients with drugs that are commonly available. The best cancer outcomes occur with cancer clinical trials and also some of the novel therapies that are available to patients now, including cellular therapies, bispecifics, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. These are things that can truly be game changers, but we have to make sure that all patients have access to those treatments.”

Northwell’s Zuckerberg Cancer Center on Long Island still serves as a hub for care, but the system has been setting up more avenues to treatment.

“The way that we ensure access to treatment is through a hub-and-spoke model. You don't have to go to that one center on Long Island to get that treatment.”

Northwell has been moving to put the entire health system on Epic’s electronic health record system. That will also help ensure more patients get the cancer care they need.

“We'll be able to make sure that all of our patients will have access to clinical trials, because you don't want to create silos,” Barakat says.

‘One size doesn’t fit all’

Northwell Health has had a relationship with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for more than a decade, and Barakat says that partnership has helped patients get better care.

“If we can translate the findings that are discovered at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and bring them to patients, that is an absolute win-win for patients,” Barakat says.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is recognized by the National Cancer Institute for its basic cancer research. Northwell’s Feinstein Institute of Medical Research serves as a translational arm of the healthcare system, Barakat says. And Northwell is the clinical arm caring for patients.

Last May, Northwell completed its acquisition of Nuvance Health, and the organization now operates 28 hospitals and more than 1,000 healthcare locations in New York and Connecticut. Northwell is now New York’s largest provider of cancer care, treating over 24,000 new cancer patients a year, Barakat says.

“Because of the diverse patient population that Northwell Health services, we are able to test novel therapies into many diverse populations, not just patients that have access to major cancer centers in New York City,” Barakat says.

He says the breadth and diversity of Northwell’s patient population is critical, “because one size doesn't fit all.”

“Cancers have different outcomes in different patients based on ethnicity, based on race, based on socioeconomic status,” he says. “So we need to study and learn why those patients do differently.”