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Beebe Surgical Oncologist Lauds Benefits of Videoconferencing for Cancer Care

01/20/09

Patients at Beebe Medical Center's Tunnell Cancer Center may not realize it, but the individualized cancer treatment program each of them undergoes often is the result of decisions made following a weekly multidisciplinary conference of oncologists, radiologists and pathologists from around the state.

Tunnell Cancer Center's medical team is one of four teams that participates with Christiana Care Health System's Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in a multidisciplinary tumor conference via video link. The other teams are from Nanticoke Hospital in Seaford, the Veterans Administration Hospital and Wilmington Hospital in Wilmington.

We believe that multidisciplinary care is the best for our cancer patients, says Surgical Oncologist James E. Spellman Jr., M.D, a member of the Medical Staff at Beebe Medical Center. Videoconferencing is a high-technology tool that can allow medical teams from different cancer programs to pool resources, discuss cases, and expand participation in clinical trials.

Dr. Spellman, an accomplished cancer surgeon, was among a group of physicians and medical professionals who co-authored the medical review A Statewide Community Cancer Center Videoconferencing Program published in the highly regarded Annals of Surgical Oncology. The other authors were from Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in Newark and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wilmington. According to the review, which was first presented orally at the March 2008 meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Delaware videoconferencing initiative is believed to be the first such program in the nation to encompass an entire state.
Our mission at Tunnell Cancer Center is to provide both hope and cure, says Cherrie Rich, Director of Oncology Services at Beebe Medical Center. We focus on bringing the highest quality and most effective care to each patient. We continually work on performance improvement initiatives and adopt the latest in proven care and treatment programs. We have a strong team of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals who work tirelessly together.

Beebe Medical Center's ability to offer its patients the best medical care is enhanced through its affiliation with the Delaware/Christiana Care Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). The Helen F. Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care Health System is one of 14 NCI-selected Community Cancer Centers. Through the CCOP network, community physicians work with scientists to conduct National Cancer Institute-supported clinical trials. This collaboration helps to transfer the latest research findings to the community level and provide quality care in participating communities. In 2007, Tunnell Cancer Center enrolled a total of 5.1 percent of its patients in clinical trials, which is above the national average of 3 percent.

According to the review article, The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer's (CoC) standards require cancer conferences, and the Commission believes them to be integral to improving the care of cancer patients. The CoC recommends participation at conference be diagnostic radiology, pathology, surgery, medical oncology, and radiation oncology. Beebe Medical Center, like the other hospitals involved in the statewide program, has its own videoconferencing program, which it began following Tunnell Cancer Center's move to its present location on John J.
Williams Highway in Rehoboth Beach in late 2006. Each Thursday at noon physicians and others involved in the care of cancer patients meet either in a conference room at the Tunnell Cancer Center and at Beebe Medical Center, and through the video network are able to share pathology slides, imaging studies and documents. Beebe Medical Center Chief of Pathology Richard Palmer, MD, coordinates the program. Other physicians who regularly attend include medical oncologist Srihari Peri, MD, Medical Director of Tunnell Cancer Center, and radiation oncologist Brian Costleigh, MD, Chief of radiation oncology.

The review states that the main reason for the statewide videoconferencing effort is to discuss difficult oncology cases and to gain input from different disciplines. It details the technology required to make the videoconferencing work. The program's protocol is in keeping with the federal privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Dr. Spellman explains that the reason the review was published in the surgical oncology publication is because videoconferencing can be used to plan treatment for any one of a number of complex cancers, which often include surgery as part of the treatment regimen.

We want to share this program with other physicians because we have found it an important vehicle in which to share knowledge, he says.

Dr. Spellman, who has had his research published previously in medical journals,
has been a member of the Beebe Medical Center Medical Staff for more than a decade and has worked closely with the oncology team at Tunnell Cancer Center. He is a fellowship trained surgical oncologist and prior to coming to Delaware was a member of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute under the direction of Nicholas Petrelli, MD who is presently the Medical Director of the Helen F Graham Cancer Center. Dr. Spellman is Board Certified in General Surgery and earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his residency at Stamford Hospital and his fellowship at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago. He is a Fellow of The American College of Surgeons and of The Society of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Spellman's main area of expertise is Surgical Oncology with subspecialty expertise in Sarcoma and Melanoma.

Tunnell Cancer Center was established in 1995. It has received the CoC's highest accreditation with commendation as a comprehensive community cancer center. Its clinical specialties are medical oncology/hematology and radiation oncology. Nearly 200 patients visit the center each day. During the past year, the CoC reported that Tunnell Cancer Center exceeded standards of care of breast and rectal cancer. The Delaware Cancer Registry presented Beebe Medical Center's Tumor Registry Department with a Certificate of Achievement for The Most Timely and Complete Reporting in 2007. This award reflects the medical center's focus on the accurate collection of cancer data, which in turn helps promote scientific research that can lead to improved survival, and nationwide policy planning for the prevention and control of cancer.

With a strong focus on education, each year Tunnell Cancer Center sponsors the Seaside Oncology Symposium, a half-day educational event to update healthcare professionals on the diagnosis and management of cancer. The annual conference is planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint-sponsorship of the Medical Society of Delaware and Beebe Medical Center. The Medical Society of Delaware is accredited by the ACCME to provide CME activities for physicians. It is supported by unrestricted educational grants from various pharmaceutical companies and programs.

Requests for reprints of the review should be made to Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, email npetrelli@christianacare.org Dr. Spellman can be contacted at his Rehoboth Beach office at: (302) 644-964. For information about Tunnell Cancer Center, call (302) 645-3770.

Caption: Surgical Oncologist James E. Spellman Jr., M.D, a member of the Medical Staff at Beebe Medical Center, is attending one of the weekly multidisciplinary videoconferences of oncologists, radiologists and pathologists.

Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org