TYLER, Texas — The Hope Cancer Center was bought last week by UT Health East Texas.
Made up of 10 hospitals and more than 50 clinics, UT Health East Texas started in 2018 after East Texas Medical Center was combined with the UT Health Science Center at Tyler.
Since then, UT Health East Texas CEO Moody Chisolm says they have been steadily growing.
“We will continue to expand with the needs of the population and with the needs of the rural populations that we serve in this area as well,” Moody explained. “We've added a family medicine residency in Pittsburgh, we've acquired an EMT and primary care practice in the Pittsburgh area, we've opened an ICU at our UT Health Jacksonville hospital.”
Part of this growth includes the recent acquiring of the Hope Cancer Center in Tyler.
Cody Boyd, the CEO of the UT Health North Tyler Campus and division administrator for UT Health East Texas cancer services, says the acquisition will allow for even better cancer care for patients in East Texas.
“It allows us to leverage the strengths of both the University of Texas System and the Hope providers and staff to offer another level of care,” Boyd said. “We also can extend some of our innovative technology and services that we have within UT Health East Texas, to the existing patients of Hope.”
Additionally, Chisolm says continued expansion makes care more accessible to more patients.
“We're trying to make it easy," Chisolm said. "If you don't feel well, that day that you can get into one of our walk walking clinics that evening to be seen."
Additionally, the larger UT Health East Texas gets, Chisolm says they can offer better pricing.
“We can work together to bring lower cost supplies for our patients," Chisolm said. "That's an important part of this as well, the larger you are, the more buying power you have. So you can drive down costs and negotiations."
Chisolm also added that though there may be circumstances that require a staffing change, none of their acquisitions have resulted in employees losing their jobs.