NYC Hospital Considering Suburban Cancer Center

NEW YORK (AP) -- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is considering building an outpatient oncology center that would serve patients throughout New York City's northern suburbs.

The Journal News reports that the hospital has asked the state Department of Health for permission to build the center in Harrison, N.Y. It says the $112 million facility would serve patients in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess counties and Fairfield County in Connecticut.

The hospital told the Journal that 13 percent of its patients come from those areas.

But some health experts question the need for the new center. They say Westchester already has a large number of expert cancer-care providers and cancer treatment options.

If the state approves the project, construction would begin in spring 2012.

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