NW-Bound
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 35,712
MD Anderson is not a chain. MD Anderson was created by the Texas Legislature and is part of the University of Texas system. It does have several locations in the Houston area as well as a few outside of Texas. It was created to be a comprehensive cancer center.
US News and World Report ranks MD Anderson #1 in the US giving it a score of 100/100.
I am not sure that looking at cancer survival rates along is the best way to assess cancer care. MD Anderson has a lot of people who travel from out of town to get care because their cases are difficult and not treated well elsewhere. It has access to some cutting edge treatments that aren't available elsewhere. In short, I would guess that as a group many MD Anderson patients are sicker than average (for cancer patients).
Years ago I had a friend who received treatment there for a difficult cancer. She consulted with several places before choosing MD Anderson. The place that was her second choice (another fine facility in the Houston area) told her flat out that MD Anderson was better for what she needed. Anyway, she had some tests at multiple place and was struck with how careful and thorough MD Anderson was.
We are actually planning to move out of the Houston area but still within Texas. One factor which argued against the move was MD Anderson not having offices in Texas except near Houston. That said, if I ever had cancer I would at the very least get a second opinion from MD Anderson.
As for cost - on my current insurance MD Anderson is in network for my insurance. It does take Medicare. A few years ago when all the PPOs vanished from Houston one of the controversial things was that MD Anderson was not in network on any ACA plans. I think that is still the case but I'm not sure.
Thanks for the info. Locally, they have recently opened a center where I live, in cooperation with a local hospital.
It is true as you point out that a center that deals with difficult cases may have a lower success rate than average. Statistics however classifies cancer survival rates according to the stage of the disease.
For early stages of cancer, the treatments would be standardized, and I don't think MD Anderson will not do anything differently than a lesser known center. And if there is a waiting list to get to MD Anderson, one may do better getting immediate treatment somewhere else.