Local Cancer Treatment Centers chief quits

In August, the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s new hospital opened its doors in Newnan.

Now, three months later, the CEO of the cancer facility has resigned.

The company isn’t commenting about Kane Dawson’s resignation. “We don’t discuss the departure of any employees,’’ said a CTCA spokeswoman, Kristin Schaner, in an email to GHN.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America Chief Operating Officer Roger Cary is serving as interim president and CEO of the Georgia hospital, she said. “Our focus, as always, is serving cancer patients and their families,’’ Schaner said.

Dawson’s departure was first reported by the Newnan Times-Herald.

The $150 million Georgia facility, located in Newnan, is the Illinois-based company’s fifth regional hospital. But getting it built was not always a smooth process.

In 2008, over the opposition of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and local hospitals, the General Assembly approved a loophole in the state’s certificate-of-need law regulating the construction of health care facilities.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America was given a route to certificate-of-need approval after it promised that 65 percent of its patients would come from outside Georgia. And the privately held company received its certificate of need from the state in December 2009.

Dawson was hired as the hospital CEO in 2011, a year before its opening.

Using a holistic approach, Cancer Treatment Centers of America says it combines traditional treatment and state-of-the-art technology with therapies that boost the immune system, manage side effects and improve quality of life for patients.

Some critics have said that CTCA’s extensive marketing — which includes TV ads with testimonials from cancer survivors and their loved ones — targets emotionally vulnerable patients with advanced-stage cancer.

Atlanta doctors testified before a Georgia House committee in 2007 that there was no proof that some of the company’s techniques worked. Yet several cancer patients told the House panel that their cancers had been arrested by CTCA physicians and treatments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Supporters such as state Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) said the CTCA facility would be good for competition. Patients said CTCA offered services not provided by other hospitals, in areas such as spiritual support.

Dawson penned a GHN Commentary last year, writing that “patients will travel to CTCA for our unique model of care, helping build greater Atlanta’s reputation as a destination health care hub.’’

“They come to us for what we call Patient Empowered Care, a model combining state-of-the-art clinical treatments and technology with an array of complementary therapies – such as nutrition therapy, naturopathic medicine, pain management, oncology rehabilitation and spiritual support – to help manage side effects and improve their quality of life,’’ Dawson said.