When Johns Hopkins acquired Baltimore City Hospitals in 1984, later renaming it Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in 1994, it offered a novel opportunity: Physicians could provide patients the innovative style of medicine and services that were previously only available at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In turn, more patients could access the institution’s unique protocols in a location that was convenient for them.

Years later, Johns Hopkins has forged similar relationships with other local community hospitals, including Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, Maryland; Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland; and Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.

This enormous expansion, explains colorectal surgeon Jonathan Efron, presents an opportunity for Johns Hopkins to offer regional centers for specific diseases, including cancer. Surgical oncologists are now practicing at each of these locations, serving patients farther south in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia, and offering more convenient locations for out-of-state patients.

“By expanding the regionalization of cancer care, we’re trying to make treatment more convenient for both patients and referring doctors away from The Johns Hopkins Hospital,” Efron says. “The goal is to have the correct patient cared for in the correct setting.”

For example, Efron explains, there are now breast cancer centers of excellence at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview, Howard County General, Suburban and Sibley, all with specialized surgeons. Surgeons with expertise in lung cancer are now practicing at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview and Sibley. In fact, Sibley now hosts a branch of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, with surgeons who treat breast, hepatobiliary, endocrine, neurological, head and neck, and thoracic conditions. Plans are in the works to expand these offerings over the next several years.

According to thoracic surgeon Stephen Broderick, one of the newest members of the team at Sibley, these centers are able to provide most of the standard surgical procedures available at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Even though the most complex operations will still take place at the main campus, patients can access preoperative and postoperative care, chemotherapy, radiation and other cancer-related services at Johns Hopkins member hospitals closer to their homes.

“Cancer care in the D.C. area is often fragmented. Patients might have their surgeon at one hospital, their medical oncologist at another and their radiation oncologist at a third location,” he says. “We can offer comprehensive, multidisciplinary care under one roof.”

To refer a patient: 443-997-1508.