BWFH Chief Medical Officer and breast cancer surgeon offers insight into providing world-class cancer care in China

Since 2015, Brigham Health has been providing strategic guidance to China-based Evergrande Health as it builds a nationwide healthcare network that will include a flagship hospital in Hainan province. When it opens later this year, the Boao Evergrande International Hospital in affiliation with Brigham and Women’s Hospital will provide world-class cancer care, initially focusing on breast cancer. Recently, delegates from the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, including Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer and breast cancer surgeon Dr. Peggy Duggan, visited China to help ensure patients at the new hospital will have access to a state-of-the-art facility.

Led by the Brigham Health Business Development and Strategic Initiatives (BDSI) group, more than 50 experts in 16 clinical specialties and hospital functions have been part of the Evergrande Health collaboration to date.

The Boao hospital will begin operations by caring for breast cancer patients. “This was the first visit to Boao to discuss how to clinically care for their patients using a multidisciplinary care team,” says Dr. Duggan of her trip. “We met with the staff that they’ve hired so far and talked through how to provide care. We talked a lot about what you do when you see a patient. We went over the basics about the steps you take with each patient and things like having patients bring their records with them when they visit. Things are done very differently in China, so it was interesting for both sides to talk these things through.”

In China, physicians see many patients in one day, often for very short office visits. At the new hospital, the goal is to create a physician-patient relationship much more like it is in the United States. “It’s revolutionary for them to create a system that provides the time and structure to support the physician-patient relationship in terms of counseling their patients about their disease and helping them make decisions as a team,” says Dr. Duggan. “We explained a lot about how that process works and how the multidisciplinary team (surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist) all work together collaboratively to come to the best conclusion for the patient.”

BDSI Executive Director Dr. Mark Davis is grateful for Dr. Duggan’s willingness to share best practices with the staff at Boao Evergrande International Hospital. “BWFH administrative and faculty leadership continue to make significant contributions to this collaboration,” he says. “Their expertise is key to assuring patients at the Boao hospital will receive cutting-edge treatment and to helping Evergrande set a new standard in patient-centered oncology care in China.”

Published 3/1/2018