It was recently announced that Provident ProtonCare, a division of Provident Resources Group, will establish an $85 million proton radiation therapy center in Baton Rouge, La. Projected to open in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Louisiana ProtonCare Center will be the latest addition to the Baton Rouge Health District.

Provident’s Louisiana ProtonCare Center will utilize a proton therapy that destroys tumor cells with a targeted, high-energy dose of radiation that spares healthy tissue and organs, and reduces side effects.

A partnership of local healthcare organizations and industry leaders emerged to support the Louisiana ProtonCare Center in Baton Rouge, including the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Louisiana Economic Development, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge General and Woman’s Hospital.

Provident ProtonCare will own and operate the Louisiana ProtonCare Center, and Provident’s longterm partner Ion Beam Applications SA will provide proton therapy technology—the Proteus PLUS system—for the ProtonCare Center. A collaborative venture composed of healthcare providers in the Baton Rouge Health District will be the ProtonCare Center’s clinical partner. The collaborative venture of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge General, and Woman’s Hospital also will serve as an extended regional network to provide patient access to treatment, when proton therapy treatment is applicable.

Provident assembled a national team of leaders for the development of proton therapy centers, with expertise in the construction, design and financing of such facilities. Those project partners include Gilbane Development Company, Stantec Architects and Citigroup Global Markets.

Provident will fund the nonprofit therapy center and own it for 20 years, after which Provident will donate the facility to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and it will remain a permanent asset in the Baton Rouge Health District.

Construction of the proton therapy center will begin in 2018, with an anticipated opening in late 2019. Final negotiations for the center’s property location in the Baton Rouge Health District are underway and nearing a conclusion.