The 300-bed, 450,000-square-foot hospital is set to open in 2031 for patients who need inpatient care during treatment. It will sit on the site of the former Joslin Diabetes Center on Brookline Avenue. The new hospital is a physical manifestation of Dana-Farber’s burgeoning collaboration with Beth Israel Lahey Health, the state’s second-largest health system and a competitor to Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest hospital network. In 2023, Dana-Farber announced that it was leaving its decades-long partnership with the Brigham, and starting a new one with Beth Israel Lahey, in part because MGB was hesitant to help fund a new facility where Dana-Farber would control more of the beds. Beth Israel, however, was game. For years, Dana-Farber has shared a bridge with the Brigham over Binney Street so patients and clinicians can easily move between the two care centers. Now, the new cancer hospital will have its own bridge — connecting to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A rendering of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s new Lavine Bekenstein Cancer Hospital.Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteDana-Farber’s cancer-specific center will join others announced by major medical players, including Mount Sinai’s in New York and MD Anderson in Houston. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Monday’s ground-breaking marked “a significant moment in history.”“This is a really special day, not just because a major institution is making some important investments in the city and their mission, but because Boston, as the historic hub of mission-driven work and common good, is on the brink of seeing that taken to the next level,” Wu said. Dana-Farber’s transition from its relationship with Brigham to its partnership with Beth Israel is highly complex, Ebert said, and will take place over several years. Dana-Farber and MGB won’t formally separate until 2028. During the years between that and the cancer hospital’s opening, Dana-Farber will house its hospitalized cancer patients at Beth Israel Deaconess, before ultimately moving them to the new hospital, Ebert said. Patients will be moved in stages from the Brigham to BI. On the outpatient side, patients who were previously treated at Beth Israel Deaconess, and their physicians, will move to Dana-Farber’s outpatient clinics. The first such transition began Monday, with the move of Dana-Farber’s breast oncology services toward Beth Israel. Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, who was formerly at Brigham, joined Beth Israel Deaconess in 2025 to lead the hospital’s new breast surgery division. At least two of the nine other surgeons in the division previously worked at Brigham, according to records from U.S. News & World Report. Anne Gross, senior vice president of patient care services, chief nursing officer and Ning Zhao chair of nursing, gave a tour of two mock-up rooms for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s new cancer hospital.Pat Greenhouse/Globe StaffDana-Farber and Beth Israel Deaconess will each house different parts of the breast oncology treatment process, with Dana-Farber providing outpatient care, while breast surgeries take place at Beth Israel. “Together, we are building something that has the potential to transform cancer care across our region while creating new opportunities to advance research and expand access to innovative therapies,” Dr. Kevin Tabb, Beth Israel’s chief executive, said in a statement. Dana-Farber patients are not required to receive their care at Beth Israel Deaconess. In a letter to patients, Dana-Farber said patients who prefer to continue seeing their surgeon, radiation oncologist, or specialists at Brigham will be supported in doing so. “If a patient says, ‘I want to have my surgery in New York, or at Mass. General, or in Paris, we work with those doctors. That happens all the time with our patients,” Ebert said. “In all cases, patients have the agency to choose who takes care of them.”Dana-Farber will hire about 2,400 workers for the new hospital over the next four years, including 400 nurses during the transition period and another 200 nurses to staff the intensive care and observation units when the hospital opens. That will likely lead to heightened competition with MGB over recruiting oncologists and other cancer clinicians. Dana-Farber and MGB have already fought over the physician assistants serving the current partnership, though the organizations ultimately said they would work together better.Dana-Farber and Beth Israel aren’t alone in their heavy investment in cancer care. MGB is investing $400 million to create a competing cancer institute, which will include new construction and renovations across multiple locations. The Herb Chambers Tower, a cancer care center located on the Massachusetts General Hospital campus, is slated to open in September 2027 and include 228 inpatient beds. A rendering of Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute’s new Herb Chambers Tower.Mass General BrighamHospital leaders, donors and elected officials broke ground Monday, shoveling dirt during the ceremony.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe StaffThe Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute launched its Brigham-based breast clinic in May, and will offer services across eight cancer specialties, including gastrointestinal and thoracic oncology, among others, by November, MGB said in a statement. MGB’s cancer institute will also open a new outpatient practice next month in the Hale Building for Transformative Medicine, which will “create a new home for patient-facing clinical research at the Brigham.”The cancer institute unites MGB’s cancer specialists into one team, but treatment is available at MGB locations beyond its two flagship hospitals, including Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.Both medical giants have been marketing their cancer centers and touting their distinct approaches. MGB claims its patients will be served in a holistic way that integrates different specialists throughout the system. Meanwhile, Dana-Farber argues cancer care is so complex that it deserves its own tailored hospital.Anne Gross, Dana-Farber’s senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer, said she and other leaders spent more than a year designing the rooms where patients and their families will stay. They built simulated hospital rooms at the institute’s 10 Brookline Place location and brought in health care design experts, Dana-Farber staff, and patients to weigh in on every feature, from the structure of the bathrooms to the adjustable lighting. The rooms will include refrigerators so that patients can access their favorite foods at all times. “Nutrition is important when anybody is sick,” Gross said. “But, particularly with patients with cancer diseases, nutrition becomes extremely important.”The new hospital will include 30 intensive care unit beds and a 16-bed observation suite, which will allow patients to finish their treatment after their outpatient clinic has closed for the day without needing to be admitted to the hospital.On a recent tour of the simulated rooms, the standard and intensive care mock-ups looked similar, complete with a photo view of the Boston skyline, although the intensive care rooms are slightly larger to allow for more equipment. Four floors of the 10-floor hospital will include specialized air protection to limit the risk of infection for severely immunocompromised patients. A mock-up of a standard oncology room for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s new cancer hospital was photographed in Brookline on Oct. 14.Pat Greenhouse/Globe StaffDana-Farber’s nurses, pharmacists, and other clinical staff will train in the simulated rooms to allow for a smooth transition into the hospital. Gross said that Dana-Farber has always had an “amazing” group of experts for every type of cancer. “We’ve had that in our outpatient areas for many years. But to now have that inpatient, and to be able to carry our patients and their loved ones through the entire experience,” Gross said. “It’s pretty exciting for Boston, and it’s pretty exciting for the region.”Marin Wolf can be reached at marin.wolf@globe.com.
