Nearly two years after McAlester Regional Health Center declined to renew its lease with a previous cancer treatment provider, a newly renovated center operated by the state’s largest oncology practice is set to begin seeing patients Dec. 15.
Quelling community concerns over whether full oncology services would actually return to one of southeast Oklahoma’s largest hospitals, the OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center is now leasing a building on the McAlester Regional Health Center campus, and a ribbon cutting was held Dec. 3.
“For a long time, our community has hoped for expanded cancer center care right here at home,” MRHC interim CEO Julie Powell said during the ceremony. “Today reflects years of planning, partnership and commitment coming together in one place.”
OU Health’s expansion to McAlester follows MRHC’s 2024 decision not to renew its lease with the center’s previous tenant, the Oklahoma Cancer Specialists and Research Institute. The move left community members wondering why they were losing access to important specialty care even after passing a sales tax in 2018 to support “a modern regional cancer treatment center.”
Several McAlester residents doubted that a full partnership with OU Health would ever happen, with a sign proclaiming its promise drawing skepticism as time dragged on.
Fast forward 22 months, and the center at 901 N. Strong Blvd. is ready to begin seeing patients. The facility will offer chemotherapy, immunotherapy, supportive infusion, radiation and an on-site pharmacist — a more robust set of services than have been provided part-time at the hospital since May 2024.
“It will be better for the community,” former MRHC CEO Shawn Howard told the McAlester News-Capital in March 2024.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, Powell said the occasion “represents a promise kept to our patients and families across southeastern Oklahoma.”
“That promise is simple but powerful,” she said. “It’s a promise that advanced care should always be available here. It’s a promise that families do not have to travel long distances during some of the most difficult moments in their lives, and it’s a promise that McAlester and the surrounding region deserve access to care in the very best way possible. Through our partnership with OU Health, that promise has become a reality.”
Mayor Justin Few: ‘This is life-changing health care’
A Comprehensive Cancer Report released last year by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma found that cancer was the second-leading cause of death within the tribe’s reservation between 2016 and 2020.
“Between 2016 and 2020, Choctaw Nation’s overall cancer incidence rate was higher than the state of Oklahoma and the United States,” the report states. “During the same time frame, the top five cancers diagnosed within the Choctaw Nation include lung and bronchus cancer, female breast cancer, male prostate cancer, colon and rectum cancer, and melanomas of the skin.”
A 2024 report by the Oklahoma State Department of Health found 41,723 cancer deaths statewide between 2018 and 2022, with eastern Oklahoma showing the highest rates of lung, bronchus, pelvis and renal cancers. Seeking improved access to screenings and treatment, the University of Oklahoma and its nonprofit clinical partner, OU Health, have expanded cancer services in Norman and the eastern part of the state — first in Tulsa and now in McAlester.
Benjamin Ikard is the chief administrative officer for the Stephenson Cancer Center, which is building a new facility in Tulsa with $50 million of funding from the Oklahoma Legislature. He spoke at the Dec. 3 ceremony in McAlester, noting the revamped cancer center’s importance in a region with lower incomes and higher health disparities.
“In Oklahoma, we’ve got some challenges,” Ikard said. “Rural communities, we know, have higher cancer rates, less treatment options and then subsequently poor outcomes. So if you live in rural Oklahoma, you have a higher likelihood you will lose your battle to cancer today.”
In addition to its cancer center operations in OKC, Tulsa, Norman and McAlester, OU Health also operates a mobile unit dedicated to lung cancer screening around the state.
McAlester Mayor Justin Few called the new partnership a major investment in the city’s health and future.
“This is not just convenient health care, this is life-changing health care,” Few said. “For far too long, too many of our residents have had to travel hours away for cancer treatment. They’ve had no place for childcare, had to take extra time off work, and had to carry the stress of being away from home during the hardest moments of their life. Today, that changes. With the expertise and nationally recognized excellence of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center now being available right here in McAlester, residents can receive world-class care without leaving their community. This means more time at home, more time with family and more support close when it matters.”
Many questions asked, few answered in decision to move
While the Dec. 3 ceremony featured celebratory remarks, McAlester residents expressed dismay after Howard chose not to renew the OCSRI lease in early 2024. OCSRI, the state’s largest physician-owned oncology network, had operated in McAlester for 24 years.
In a February 2024 press release, the company said the McAlester hospital’s decision occurred without its involvement. According to an archived version of the OCSRI website, the McAlester facility saw an average of 30 radiation patients per day and 75 to 100 chemotherapy patients per week, drawing most patients from within a 50-mile radius.
After the decision became public, McAlester residents began demanding answers at several public meetings.
OCSRI employees spoke at a Feb. 15, 2024, McAlester City Council meeting, saying they would have to find new jobs because they could not make the two-hour drive to OCSRI’s Tulsa location.
Former McAlester Mayor John Browne told attendees the hospital operates as a trust of the city and that councilors have no role in day-to-day hospital decisions. The council does appoint members to the McAlester Regional Health Center Authority Board, and the hospital cannot incur more than $1 million in debt without city approval.
“The City of McAlester has nothing to do with the business aspect of the hospital,” Browne said. “They make their own business decisions. We’re not consulted. We don’t know about them.”
Citizens returned to the Feb. 28, 2024, council meeting, where Browne said all questions should go to the MRHCA’s board.
Ward 4 Councilman Randy Roden suggested selling the hospital, but Browne said the city only owns the land and that the hospital board would have to make any sale decision.
The MRHCA’s meeting was standing-room only March 6, 2024. Residents were told they could not speak to the board because the cancer center topic was not on its agenda.
A board member answered one question during the meeting: How many board members voted to not renew the OCSRI lease?
“The hospital board doesn’t decide such matters, which would mean it fell under hospital operations with Howard, the hospital’s chief executive officer,” the McAlester News-Capital reported, without noting which member of the board gave the answer.
Howard resigned in June 2024 and currently serves as vice president of business development for Stillwater Medical Center.
After OCSRI ceased operations March 8, 2024, MRHC scrambled to open an oncology clinic. Spokeswoman Lucy Muller said MRHC decided to partner with OU Health’s Stephenson Cancer Center and that Dr. Jehanzeb Riaz would open the clinic on the hospital’s third floor. It began operating with limited capacity in May 2024, with plans to move patients into the main facility whenever it opened.
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Tax on, tax off
After OCSRI’s lease ended, McAlester residents questioned the status of a one-eighth-cent sales tax approved in 2018 to “construct a modern regional cancer treatment center.” Voters passed the measure Feb. 13, 2018, by a vote of 670–534.
A split council vote April 9, 2024, repealed the tax without an emergency clause, meaning the repeal would take effect after 30 days. The vote followed a legal opinion from city attorney John T. Hammons stating the council had authority to repeal the tax even though voters had approved it.
Following public feedback and columns by the News-Capital‘s late editor James Beaty, the council rescinded the repeal.
A spreadsheet of money received and spent out of the tax account provided by MRHC showed $3.81 million in tax revenue and $259,140 in accrued interest as of Nov. 3. On March 5, the hospital authority’s board approved a construction management agreement with Hix Industries, Inc. to lead the cancer center project. On May 7, the board approved $1,017,289 in construction and demolition bids. MRHC has reported spending $2.02 million on the project.
After those expenses, the total amount in the tax account as of Nov. 3 was just more than $2.04 million, according to MRHC’s provided document.
Muller, the hospital’s spokeswoman, said renovating and expanding the cancer center fulfills the 2018 original proposition’s intent.
“The updating of the current building will provide expanded cancer care and ancillary services because OU Stephenson Cancer Center will be bringing advanced radiation oncology technology, chemotherapy infusion capacity, integrated oncology support services, and access to nationally-recognized clinical expertise directly to southeast Oklahoma,” Muller said. “Additionally, OU has the ability to offer clinical trials in rural areas, further expanding access to innovative cancer therapies and reducing the burden of travel for patients seeking cutting-edge care. These enhancements modernize the space, increase capacity and broaden the scope of care available to our region — all of which align with the goals outlined in the original proposition.”
The lease between MRHC and OU Health was signed Oct. 7, began Nov. 1, and ends Oct. 21, 2030, with an automatic five-year renewal unless notice is given. OU Health will pay MRHC $17,345 per month under the agreement.
“Cancer does not wait for a tank of gas or a day off work,” Dr. Robert Mannel, director of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, said in a press release. “This center means a McAlester mom can start chemo the same week she’s diagnosed instead of a month later. That’s the difference between beating cancer and losing ground.”
