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Summit Health Oregon announced it will close its oncology department temporarily, and patients will be transferred to St. Charles Health System, according to a statement from the health organization. 

Doctors have notified patients at the Bend oncology unit, and Summit has worked to transfer patient records over to St. Charles Cancer Center,  said Justin Sivill, Summit Health regional chief operating officer.

“This is not a permanent closure of our service,” Sivill said.  “We are committed to our community, and we are investing in a new state-of-the-art facility that is under construction. 

“While this is underway… we have offered additional resources to our patients leading up to, during and after this transition to support our patients, including patient communication, scheduling of new appointments, providing access to medical records to St. Charles.”

Summit Health did not provide details on how many patients were affected by the temporary closure or for how long the closure would be.

Alandra Johnson, St. Charles Health System spokeswoman, said the cancer center is able to accommodate all patients who are seeking oncology treatment. 

“We are prepared to meet the needs of the community,” Johnson said. “We have also been actively expanding our oncology services.”

The health system is in the midst of building a second cancer center in Redmond. The new building will be a 53,000-square-foot cancer center to accommodate 300 or more patients north and east of Central Oregon, according to the health system. 

The new facility will be on the corner of NW Kingwood and NW Canal avenues in Redmond and will cost $90 million. 

Summit Health acquired Bend Memorial Clinic in 2018. BMC, as it was later known, was established by physicians in 1946. 

Summit Medical Group of New Jersey, the parent company of Summit Health, has more than 1,600 providers in 200 locations nationwide.  Locally, Summit health acquired High Desert Family Medicine  in Sunriver in 2023. This acquisition allowed Summit to expand operations and introduce specialty care to patients in Sunriver, Gilchrist, La Pine and south Deschutes County.