(Cape May County, NJ) – Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) have entered into a clinical affiliation to provide expanded cancer and cardiovascular services and programs for the residents and visitors of Cape May County, NJ, and surrounding shore communities. This agreement represents a further expansion of UPHS’s clinical expertise in advanced cancer and cardiovascular care among the superior health-care facilities that serve the shore communities of southern New Jersey. UPHS has an existing affiliation agreement with Shore Memorial Hospital, in Somers Point, New Jersey involving cancer, cardiovascular and neuroscience care.

As part of the agreement, Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital will join the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network, which will now encompass a select group of 22 community hospitals throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania who provide cancer care in their communities in collaboration with the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania – one of the nation’s first NIH-designated comprehensive cancer centers. Through membership in Penn’s Cancer Network, Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital patients will have access to the full continuum of specialty and subspecialty care and resources available via Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center - including standard and innovative preventative, diagnostic, and treatment services (including medial oncology, surgery, radiation oncology and integrated care/medicine), as well as programs in research and education for the benefit of cancer patients and their families. All participants in the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network share a commitment to excellence in patient care and cancer research, as well as improvement in the health and well-being of their communities.

Also as part of the agreement, Burdette will become an affiliate of Penn Cardiology – thereby permitting Penn cardiovascular specialists to provide clinical management of a Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital. This relationship will enhance and expand Burdette’s diagnostic, therapeutic, and research capabilities related to standard and complex cardiac disorders – from angina to acute myocardial infarction … and from congenital heart disease to congestive heart failure. William J. Untereker, MD, will serve as Medical Director of Burdette’s Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

This new agreement also provides for the development of a Regional Coordinating Council, which will create ways Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, Shore Memorial Hospital and UPHS can work together to better serve the needs of patients in this area.

“We are pleased to partner with Penn to provide our patients with enhanced services and programs in the areas of cancer and cardiovascular care,” said Joanne Carrocino, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer of Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital. “We look forward to working with Penn specialists to develop additional mutually supportive programs that will further benefit our patients in Cape May County.”

“We are privileged to work with Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital to implement clinical affiliations in the areas of cancer and cardiovascular medicine so that Burdette may continue its rich tradition of providing high-quality care to the communities it serves,” said Ralph W. Muller, Chief Executive Officer of Penn’s Health System. “We look forward to also expanding our educational outreach opportunities within the superb clinical facilities of Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital.

“Our clinical agreements with Shore Memorial and, now, Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, permit us to assist in the delivery of high-quality, state-of-the-art care in cancer and cardiovascular medicine to the shore-town residents of southern New Jersey,” continued Muller. “Through these promising clinical affiliations, we remain committed to the health-care needs of the communities each hospital serves.”

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Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital is the acute-care medical center of the South Jersey Cape. Located at 2 Stone Harbor Boulevard in Cape May Courthouse, Burdette is the southern-most gateway to advanced care in the State of New Jersey. We serve an expanding local population and more than one million seasonal visitors with a variety of inpatient and outpatient services including emergency room services with FastTrack. We are fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). For more information, please call 609-463-2008 or visit us online at www.btmh.com.

PENN Medicine is a $2.9 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #3 in the nation in U.S.News & World Report's most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals [Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is consistently ranked one of the nation's few "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S.News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center]; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.