by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | November 06, 2023
UCI Health has bought GenesisCare's Orange County radiation oncology centers. (Photo courtesy of UCI)
Months after filing for bankruptcy, radiotherapy service provider GenesisCare has sold its radiation oncology centers in Orange County to UCI Health.
UCI Health (University of California, Irvine) is the only academic health system in Orange County and will now oversee GenesisCare centers in Fountain Valley and Anaheim. It will change the name of the Fountain Valley location to UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center – Fountain Valley as part of its plans to more than triple the size of its specialty cancer services in Orange County. UCI Health has already contacted patients at both locations.
“We are pleased to be able to continue offering radiation oncology care to these patients with the expertise and experience of our excellent radiation oncology experts,” said UCI Health CEO Chad Lefteris in a statement.
The UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in the city of Orange is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in the county. In addition to it and the Fountain Valley location, UCI Health will open its Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care facility at the UCI Health – Irvine medical campus next year.
The building will include radiation oncology services, an infusion center, eight outpatient operating rooms, and 52 private exam rooms, and will oversee the only adult hematopoietic stem cell/bone marrow transplant program in Orange County.
GenesisCare, which was founded in 2005 in Australia, has businesses in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and Spain. In June 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking to sell off its U.S. business in parts just three years after entering the market through its acquisition of 21st Century Oncology, a network of physician-owned, cancer treatment centers that also went bankrupt in 2017,
according to Reuters.
The company said it was unable to fix long-term problems related to poor coordination of data and operations, outdated IT systems and radiotherapy equipment, and increased competition. Additionally, the deal for 21st Century Oncology saddled GenesisCare with additional debt and failed to make a profit.
GenesisCare is also in debt to the Australian government for charging patients there for treatment when it was contractually required to only offer them bulk billing, which results in no-cost treatment under the Radiation Oncology Health Program Grants Scheme there, in exchange for government funding to subsidize the purchase of equipment,
reported the Australian Financial Review.
“This is a positive development aimed at resetting the businesses’ capital structure to a more sustainable footing, ensuring we can continue to grow and focus on maintaining and improving all important patient care,” said GenesisCare in a statement back in June.
Financial details of the sale to UCI Health were not disclosed.
