State Approves Yale-New Haven Cancer Center

NEW HAVEN (AP) — The state Office of Health Care Access (OCHA) has given the go-ahead to a proposed $430 million cancer center at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The project, which still needs city approvals, would consolidate cancer services in a new 14-story building with an additional 112 beds.

Hospital officials say the expansion is necessary to handle an expected 20 percent growth in patient demand over the next ten years. The 500,000-square-foot building would be on Park Street next to three existing hospital wings.

Hospital officials are working with the city to obtain necessary zoning approvals and iron out the details of a parking plan.

Norman Roth, the hospital’s senior vice president of administration, called the OCHA ruling a critically important milestone but said he is still concerned about delays at the city level. The hospital had hoped to start construction soon, but city officials said approvals will not be in place until at least the end of the year.

The hospital has also proposed building a $40 million garage and a $60 million medical office building on sites owned by the city.

The OHCA said the benefits of the new center will include “higher survival rates, lower mortality and morbidity, fewer complications and readmissions after discharge, decrease in infections, improved functional outcomes, and higher patient satisfaction.''

The office also said a state network of hospitals and physicians working with Yale doctors will expand opportunities for regional clinical trials and provide care for patients who might otherwise decide to travel out of state.

OHCA approval was never in doubt, but it is a necessary step for the hospital's first expansion in a decade.

The hospital says that as the region’s demographics change, demand for cancer services will increase. People over 65, who account for six of ten new cancer cases, are projected to make up 20 percent of the population by 2030.