Dana-Farber Begins Building $1.7 Billion Cancer Hospital in Longwood

Construction crews have begun work on a $1.7 billion cancer hospital in Boston's Longwood Medical Area, the most concrete step yet in a realignment of cancer care among the city's major hospital systems, WBUR reported Tuesday.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's new 300-bed hospital is scheduled to open in 2031 and will admit patients who need surgery and other intensive treatment. Hospital leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Oct. 19.

The project reflects Dana-Farber's position that cancer patients are best served at a standalone hospital focused on a single disease. "We know that outcomes are better for patients who are treated in dedicated cancer centers," Dr. Benjamin Ebert, Dana-Farber's chief executive, told WBUR, citing research showing that patients at hospitals specializing in cancer tend to live longer.

Dana-Farber's largest national competitors, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, already operate their own hospitals.

"We need a facility to take care of patients at the very highest level," Ebert said, "and being able to design that from scratch, focused entirely on the specific needs of cancer patients, is incredibly exciting."

A split with the Brigham

The groundbreaking marks a turning point for Dana-Farber, which has typically admitted its patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The two institutions are ending that relationship, and Dana-Farber is forming a new partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The changes come as cancer rates rise, particularly among younger people, and as treatment grows more complex, according to WBUR. The new alliances have also set off competition among Boston hospitals for doctors, nurses and patients.

Dr. Kevin Tabb, the outgoing leader of Beth Israel Lahey Health, the parent company of Beth Israel Deaconess, said the partnership with Dana-Farber has already helped recruit 140 faculty members from around the country. "It's enhanced our ability to attract the people that we need — the physicians and the scientists that are going to shape the future of cancer," Tabb said.

Mass General Brigham's response

Mass General Brigham, the rival health system, has also invested in cancer care since the split. It launched the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, under which Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham are to work more closely together, and committed $400 million to upgrade facilities for cancer patients.

"With every disappointment, there is great opportunity, and this allowed us to really redirect our efforts," Dr. O'Neil Britton, the system's chief integration officer, said when the effort was launched in 2024. WBUR reported that Mass General Brigham executives were not available for an interview for its story.

Mass General Brigham's cancer patients are currently spread across several sites. Next fall, Massachusetts General Hospital is scheduled to open a new tower with more than 228 beds that will serve as a hub for cancer care, a project that began before the breakup with Dana-Farber. Mass General Brigham leaders, who unsuccessfully lobbied against Dana-Farber's project, argue that their system can provide complex cancer care while also treating patients' other medical needs.

Dr. Lisa Bielamowicz, a Washington-based hospital consultant, described that tradeoff. "There is a certain exclusivity that comes with having a standalone cancer center with its own hospital," she told WBUR. "Having the specialized facilities has some attractions, but it is also critical to realize that a cancer patient doesn't just come to the hospital with cancer. They need other evaluations. The integration and access to those other specialties in a standalone center is really, really important."

Ebert said Dana-Farber patients will have access to every specialty they need through the Beth Israel affiliation, "in a way that brings all of the specialties to the patient's bedside rather than asking the patient to run around and see different doctors."

The transition period

Dana-Farber still has about 200 patients admitted at the Brigham. It has begun moving breast cancer patients to Mount Auburn Hospital, part of the Beth Israel system, and plans to move additional patients to Beth Israel hospitals in phases over the next two years.

WBUR identified 2028 to 2031, after the Dana-Farber and Brigham relationship ends and before the new hospital opens, as potentially the most difficult stretch. "It may seem like it might be disruptive, but we hope it will actually be more seamless than it's been in the past, even over the next few years leading up to the opening of the new cancer hospital," Ebert said. "If anything, we're going to be a little overstaffed to make sure that this goes really smoothly."

The building

The 14-story hospital will stand on the former site of the Joslin Diabetes Center and connect to Beth Israel Deaconess and to Dana-Farber's outpatient clinics in the Longwood Medical Area, between the Mission Hill and Fenway neighborhoods. Patient rooms are to include large video screens, wearable monitors and a noise-dampening design intended to help patients sleep.

Costs and donors

The project's price tag could partly affect patients' health insurance costs, WBUR reported. According to the state Health Policy Commission, Dana-Farber charges lower prices than competitors for inpatient care, but its outpatient care is more expensive than that of other cancer care providers.

Dana-Farber is also raising money from donors. The hospital will be named for board members Jonathan Lavine and Joshua Bekenstein and their families, who made the largest gift in the institute's history. They declined to disclose the amount. Lavine and Bekenstein worked together at the private equity firm Bain Capital.