Cutting Edge Cancer Care in the Community

Dr. Kapur was recently honored for his continued vision and focus to provide independent, comprehensive, and personalized care for hematology and oncology treatment. In his words,

“Our patients want cancer care in the community! They need it and don’t want to travel far distances…and they shouldn’t have to. That’s the reason we feel so strongly about delivering the highest quality, comprehensive care right in our own community. I keep coming back to the word community. And that is because, that is where cancer care should be! “

In this inspirational speech, hear Dr. Kapur discuss the importance of community care and why ECHO is so committed to this philosophy.

Highlights from his speech are below:

“Cancer care should be local. It should remain local. Fifteen plus years ago, 85% of cancer care was delivered locally. Now community care accounts for less that 60-65% due to large networks and independent practices being swallowed by larger organizations.”

“I am fortunate. I have partners with the same vision. I have a team that strongly believes that we should be treating patients, in our own office, in our own community.”

“ECHO is here for our patients. Last year in conjunction with our non-profit ECHO Foundation

• We gave 1.1 million dollars of co-pay assistance. It is inconceivable that we are in richest nation in the world and our patients cannot afford medication.

• We arranged for 36-40 rides a month for patients
• We helped with rental assistance, electricity, groceries and other expenses for patients in need.

• We support children of patients with back to school supplies.

We do this because we are a community. Cancer care is personal. Our goal is to provide personalized cancer care with a personal touch. We have been doing this for decades.”

“Our patients want local care – they need it and don’t want to travel far distances. And, they shouldn’t have to. That’s the reason we feel so strongly about delivering highest quality, comprehensive care right in their own community. I keep coming back to the word community. And that is because, that is where cancer care should be!”

“We deal with roadblocks. But I have a staff that shares my vision. I truly believe that we should be able to deliver all the cutting-edge cancer care services to our patients in our community setting.”

“We have our own lab, dispensary, infusion center, and partnerships with community partners including massage therapy, physical therapy, social support, pet therapy, foundation support, and everything else that comes in between.”

“We are going in great direction with cancer care. Our testing tools are better, our diagnostic tools are better, we can do genetic and molecular testing to get to a granular level, we can open clinical trials in our practices in no time.”

“At large hospitals, it can take 6-8 months to open a clinical trial due to bureaucracy. We can do ‘just in time’ clinical trials and if we have a patient with a need, we can get a clinical trial opened in as little as 3-5 days.”

“People have misconception that cancer care is only given in large centers. No – top cancer care is given in patients’ local communities.”

“Anytime anyone has a cancer or a blood disorder, they are not a number. They are a person, a human being. My favorite part of being a doctor is knowing about my patients. That is what we take pride in. Knowing our patients in a very humanistic and personal level.”

“Cancer patients don’t just face treatment toxicity, but also face financial toxicity, emotional toxicity, mobility toxicity. Our goal at ECHO has been to eliminate all the barriers that patients face. We are there. As Oliver Wendell Holmes once said,  “Greatness is not in where we stand but in what direction we are moving.” For us, we are on the the right journey and no one is going to stop us!”