Posted on: Monday, May 31, 2004
Cancer center options weighed
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The University of Hawai'i is fast-forwarding its efforts to get a new $100 million Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i on the ground next to the new John A. Burns School of Medicine under construction in Kaka'ako and set to open next year.
Plans are moving forward on two tracks.
Two months ago UH President Evan Dobelle submitted a proposal to senior U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, in the hope of seeing an initial $10 million in planning money approved by Congress this fiscal year and potentially $80 million to $100 million appropriated next year for construction.
Meanwhile, several private contractors are exploring how to privately finance construction of a new cancer center and lease the facility back to UH, according to center director Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel.
"They would fund it and the university would have a long-term lease rent arrangement," Vogel said. "As federal dollars become available, we would use them to pay down the debt."
The private development possibilities, while preliminary, would represent a change in how the university has handled major building, and could get the new cancer center built faster.
However, Jan Yokota, director of capital improvements for the university system, said the university doesn't have any specifics yet regarding proposed private development of the cancer center.
"We're looking at all possible options," said Yokota. "We'd like to get the facilities built. The federal funding is a strong possibility, but there are different ways of doing it. Maybe a combination of federal and private money. It's just finding out which one works best."
The present Cancer Research Center long ago outgrew its five-story research facility next to The Queen's Medical Center and needs expanded facilities to lure a larger chunk of national research money and expand its reach to the Pacific Basin and Asia.
At stake is as much as $150 million more in research money annually from the National Institutes of Health plus the chance to create a Pacific hub for cancer care and research on par with the nation's best. Hawai'i gets less than 1 percent of the $23 billion available annually for research from the NIH.
Dobelle said there is powerful evidence an expanded cancer center is in the national interest because of the unique research opportunities among Hawai'i's diverse ethnic population and the added opportunity to serve the nation's approximately 300,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Asia.
"It's very clear the Asian American demographics are different (than the rest of the country) and it certainly fits with other cancer centers around the country that have been (federally) funded either partially or wholly," Dobelle said.
If the cancer center is built with private money — or part private and part public money — it could potentially speed its completion, Vogel said. "We wouldn't have to wait until we have the entire amount of money in the bank."
But it could leave the state and the university out of the driver's seat in negotiating the best terms.
"This is a deviation from past practice," notes Vogel. "In the past, the university has only built structures with Capital Improvement Project money."
Dobelle cautioned that private options for the new cancer center are "preliminary" and "speculative" and it's too early to know what the specifics could be.
Also, any plan would have to receive final approval from the UH Board of Regents.
But with tight state budgets hindering repairs and maintenance of existing university buildings, the regents have been receptive to the idea of partnering with private industry on big projects UH couldn't otherwise afford.
Already, the board has instructed administrators to look into the possibility of working with private developers to build a long-anticipated UH-West O'ahu campus in Kapolei, plus a campus in West Hawai'i on the Big Island.
"With each of these facilities, we're looking at all kinds of options for developing them," Yokota said.
Despite the different initiatives, Dobelle is most optimistic federal financing will become available for the center.
During a February field hearing in Honolulu, Inouye asked Dobelle for the details of a cancer center proposal by June 1 if he were to ask other congressional leaders to appropriate construction money next year.
"We didn't wait," said Dobelle. "We had it done in three weeks and I was in Washington to meet with some of the senators, and we're hopeful. The senator has said from the beginning this was an important project to him."
The UH proposal notes that an expanded and enlarged cancer center on 5.5 acres of state land on the Kaka'ako waterfront will support unique research possible only in Hawai'i'.
"The need is great and the benefits are numerous," Dobelle wrote in the proposal, noting that Hawai'i's people will also see improved cancer treatment with an expansion of facilities for research and to conduct clinical trials.
Dobelle also notes the Kaka'ako site is "ideal" for the center, and could include space "for clinical facilities in which medical examinations, clinical trials and longitudinal and epidemiological studies could be conducted."
With federal planning money in hand, construction could begin as early as July 2006, Dobelle said. It would take two years for completion.
The university is negotiating for the lease of the state land with the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, with the negotiation period extending into July.
While Hawai'i hospitals have been uncertain about how a new cancer clinic would affect their business, Vogel said the pieces can work together effectively and provide business for all, create a vast new base of patients from Asia and the Pacific, and offer access to cutting-edge medications.
Last year, 21 Hawai'i healthcare groups signed an agreement to collaborate on the new cancer center.
As plans move forward on all fronts, the private developers interested in such a project have been looking into financing, approvals and other details of putting together such a massive project, Vogel said.
"These people are investing some money regarding the site ramifications, construction costs, the political situation," Vogel said. "They've talked to everybody under the sun in the process of due diligence. They are all viable and have experience in developing medical and research facilities like this."
But at this point in time, Vogel said the university is still "completely noncommittal.
"They can't give anyone a green light without due process."
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
