Northwell takes stake in Queens radiation oncology center

Northwell Health has acquired a stake in a radiation oncology center in Forest Hills, Queens, the health system said on Monday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It will be Northwell's first radiation therapy center in central Queens. Integrated Oncology Network, which has retained a portion of the facility, had been the sole operator, Northwell said.

The location on 70th Avenue has been rebranded the Queens Radiation Center and will be part of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute.

The facility had been called New York Radiation Associates.

Existing staff will remain at the location, and Northwell said it will bring in its own employees as well.

The 3,000-square-foot facility is equipped with an external-beam linear accelerator that treats about 75 to 80 percent of cancers, including breast, lung, prostate, brain, and head and neck. If patients require a different type of radiation oncology service they can be referred to Northwell's Radiation Medicine Center in Lake Success.

California-based Integrated Oncology Network and its subsidiaries own and manage 51 centers in 17 states.

Northwell and other area health systems have expanded cancer care in recent years. For example, Northwell opened the $46.5 million Imbert Cancer Center in Bay Shore in late 2016. Manhattan-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center earlier this year opened a facility at the Hub in Uniondale. Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip also plans to open a cancer center at the hospital this year.

There were 18,000 new cases of cancer per year on Long Island, on average, from 2011 through 2015, according to the most recent data available from the state Department of Health. 

New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health, with 69,000 employees, is the largest private employer in the state.