Jamaica Hospital Medical Center to start construction for cancer hub
Jamaica Hospital plans to start work on new cancer center. Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is seeking state approval to start construction for a new six-story cancer facility as part of a state-funded initiative to keep the struggling safety-net hospital afloat.
The Comprehensive Cancer Care Center of Queens
The Queens hospital, which has 408 beds, filed plans in late June for the building at 90-28 Van Wyck Expressway that is slated to become its new cancer hub, according to an application submitted to the Department of Health. Plans for the new building outline the second phase for Jamaica Hospital’s so-called Comprehensive Cancer Care Center of Queens, a state-funded project that aims to address growing cancer rates and health disparities in the city. The building, estimated to cost $169 million, is expected to become home to all diagnostic services, radiation treatments and cancer-related surgeries for the roughly 2.5 million patients that Jamaica Hospital serves.
Strategic Partnership and State Funding
Jamaica Hospital and its partner, Memorial Sloan Kettering, received $188 million from the state in January to build the cancer center. The cancer center is one of the first projects funded by the safety-net transformation program, a state initiative launched by Gov. Kathy Hochul last year that pairs struggling safety-net hospitals with financially stable health systems to help turn around their finances. As a part of the deal, Jamaica Hospital will refer its patients to the Upper East Side medical center for advanced treatment and clinical trial enrollment.
Phases and Timeline
The hospital in May asked state health regulators to approve the first phase of its construction plans to build a treatment unit in the basement of the new building, which it anticipated would cost $25 million. Jamaica Hospital anticipates that construction for the cancer facility will take three years once the project is approved, according to its application. The project is awaiting approval from state health regulators.
Project Information Summary
- Location: 90-28 Van Wyck Expressway
- Total Estimated Cost: $169 million
- Phase 1 Cost (Treatment Unit): $25 million
- State Grant Received: $188 million
- Target Population: 2.5 million patients
- Projected Construction Timeline: Three years
- Partner Institution: Memorial Sloan Kettering