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Centers of Excellence versus other providers
We are thinking about relocating out of MN to the west coast to be closer to family. Trouble is, Mayo does not have a presence there like they do here in MN where I am receiving what I believe to be is world class care.
Wondering just how important the provider is. There are plenty of cancer treatment providers out there but only a handful of top ten Centers of Excellence. As a patient of Mayo I'm sure I take their quality of their care for granted because it is all I know, but I would be interested in hearing from those who have moved between different providers. I've been told by many that where you get your care can really make a difference when it comes to outcomes. True?
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I shared in a private message that Calgary itself is opening a second dedicated Cancer Centre next month, to supplement its existing Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
It can be tricky getting non-emergency treatment in a different province in Canada, since each runs its own medicare. It does happen a lot, especially from smaller provinces that don't have specialised facilities, but it means jumping through a few hoops instead of just flashing your provincial healthcard on the way in. I used to be a volunteer non-emergency medical pilot, and I'd fly cancer patients from northwestern Quebec to Montréal (for example), even if Toronto or even Sudbury were closer geographically.
In any case, there are huge benefits to staying close to home and your support network, as long as you're at a dedicated, multidisciplinary cancer facility where the practitioners are also university researchers and lecturers. If you have all that, the difference between a global 5th place or 50th place ranking probably doesn't matter a lot compared to the difference between *any* good cancer-focussed research centre and the rest of the healthcare system.