Dr. Heifetz Discusses Rural Oncology Care

Laurence J. Heifetz, MD, medical director, Gene Upshaw Memorial Tahoe Forest Cancer Center, discusses rural oncology care.

About 20% of the US population lives in rural areas, Heifetz says. This means that those people have less access to state-of-the-art medical care, particularly cancer care, which is expensive and difficult. Heifetz says that when a patient is living far away from a thought center, which are in most major cities across the country, they will not get care as quickly as a patient who lives within the city limits.

At the Tahoe Forest Cancer Center, a system has been put in place to address the needs of the 4 largest cancers that make up 80% of diagnoses—gastrointestinal, genitourinary, lung, and breast cancer. Heifetz says that this remote facility has partnered up with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is now a part of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Care Network, which is comprised of 4 rural cancer centers.