The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital System operates 37 hospitals in 10 states. In Central Florida, the Florida Hospital System has six hospital campuses (that will be participating in the FHCI-CCOP application) that bill under one license. The flagship hospital of the seven Florida Hospital System is Florida Hospital South (FH) located in Orlando, Orange County. Florida Hospital South (FH) offers a full array of services including medical oncology, radiation oncology, pediatric oncology, bone marrow transplantation, surgical oncology, neuro-oncology, and gynecologic oncology. The other five hospitals in Central Florida are located in the neighboring Oscelo and Seminole counties. A seventh hospital Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center (MMC) is located in Volusia County. MMC is also owned by Adventist Health, but falls under a separate license. The Florida Hospital Cancer Institute (FHCI) was created to coordinate all of the cancer activities in the FH System. Dr. Lee Zehngebot has been leading the clinical activities of the FHCI for over 20 years. Dr. Zehngebot has been the architect of a successful clinical trial within the FHCI. This program has received national awards and recognition. The FHCl's Research department has a strong history of both cooperative group and pharmaceutical trials. Over the last year as we prepared for the transition to a CCOP program, FHCI enrolled CCOP credit equivalents of 56 treatment credits and 54.8 cancer control credits, with the majority of credits accrued since January 2011. In addition, FHCl's catchment area includes counties with over 40% Hispanic population and 20 % African American. While the tumor registry data only shows 11 % Hispanic and 8.5 % African American, enrollment to clinical trials shows 13% Hispanic and 10% African American. The above six hospitals in the FH System along with another MMC wish to become a CCOP. We view a CCOP award as a cornerstone to further integrate our cancer clinical trials and research programs. A CCOP award will allow FHCI to expand its clinical trials efforts in both geography and scope in the central Florida community.
While central Florida has excellent Cancer Center resources, this area lacks the comprehensiveness that a CCOP brings to the community in terms of outreach and clinical trials access. The FHCI-CCOP with its broad network of FH facilities will be able to serve this community, including the growing minority populations.
