UNC Hospitals fights prostate center in Cary

UNC Hospitals is fighting the right of a medical institution in Cary to establish and own a new prostate cancer care center.

Cary Urology wants the new center to be built in southeast Raleigh, where its medical officials say it can better benefit the region’s black men — a demographic that has a one in four chance of getting prostate cancer.

The center would offer screening, high-tech radiation and outreach support systems for those affected by prostate cancer, said Dr. Kevin Khoudary, who is leading the project at Cary Urology.

Cary Urology and UNC Hospitals applied for ownership of the health center in April of last year, said Karen McCall, vice president of public affairs and marketing at the UNC Hospitals.

Cary Urology was approved by the state as owner in September of last year. But UNC Hospitals appealed the decision a month later, McCall said.

Khoudary said he thinks UNC Hospitals applied only for competitive reasons — the Rex Cancer Center at its sister hospital in Raleigh has developed treatment of prostate cancer.

“I do not think they truly have a desire to have a prostate center,” Khoudary said.

McCall declined to comment on behalf of the UNC Hospitals, citing litigation concerns.

Khoudary said he informed the state of the need for the center because of North Carolina’s high prostate cancer mortality rates, especially in black men.

The center could reduce the state’s mortality rate because if prostate cancer is caught early, it is almost 100 percent preventable, said Dr. James Smith of the Minority Prostate Cancer Awareness Action Team.

Smith also said that North Carolina has the third-highest death rate from prostate cancer among black men.

He said he supports the center being built under Cary Urology because its location will better serve the state’s minority population.

“If Cary Urology has this opportunity, people won’t have to get to the other side of the world,” Smith said.

“I would hope that UNC recognizes the need for access to care for everyone.”

Men living in southeast Raleigh without reliable means of transportation have a difficult time getting to Chapel Hill for prostate treatment, Khoudary said.

“The goal of the center was a multi-pronged attack on these demographics,” he said.

But now the center is currently on hold as the parties involved wait for the state’s final decision.

There are about 30 doctors under Cary Urology waiting to begin practicing, Khoudary said.

And UNC Hospitals have not been cooperative, he said.

“There has been a certain amount of chest-thumping,” he said.

Khoudary said that after the final decision is made in early October, a party could make an appeal and the process could take 15 to 18 months.

“We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to keep plugging away at this problem,” he said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu