BayCare Unveils High Risk Cancer Program to Identify At-Risk Patients Early

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins, BayCare is taking a proactive approach to cancer care to help community members identify and reduce their risks for developing cancer. 

Central to this effort is BayCare’s new High Risk Cancer Program — the only program of its kind in West Central Florida and surrounding areas — which offers personalized plans to help prevent and detect cancer early. Staffed by oncology experts and using the latest technology, the program reflects BayCare’s commitment to delivering clinical excellence to patients across West Central Florida.  Patients join the program after completing a validated, easy-to-use online cancer risk assessment survey that identifies those at high risk. 

The survey assesses risks for nine different types of cancer – breast, colorectal, endometrial, gastric, kidney, lung, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate – and only takes five minutes to complete. 

“So often when the patients come to us, their cancers are advanced,” said Peter Blumencranz, MD, who was a breast surgeon at The Comprehensive Breast Center at Morton Plant Hospital and is now medical director of the BayCare Cancer Institute. “But through our High Risk Cancer Program, we can identify those who are at a higher risk for cancer much earlier and begin to monitor their health.” 

In addition to Dr. Blumencranz, the program’s team includes Tim McMahon, director of the BayCare Cancer Institute, who began his career as a registered nurse working with oncology patients; and Erika Oschmann, an APRN (advanced practice registered nurse) who has worked with oncology patients for nearly a decade and is overseeing the assessment program. The program currently has an office in the Powell Pavilion on the Morton Plant Hospital campus in Clearwater, with plans to expand program locations to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa and Winter Haven Hospital in Winter Haven. 

“Our goal is to find patients who are at risk of cancer even before they are diagnosed,” McMahon said. “We want to identify the high-risk patients earlier and have them start screening protocols earlier. Our hope is that with earlier detection, their treatment options will be less invasive.” 

BayCare is offering an online cancer risk assessment, provided exclusively by CancerIQ for BayCare to use in West Central Florida, to help individuals proactively manage their health. With cancer being diagnosed in younger people — but often at later stages — the assessment targets those ages 24–45 with a family histories of cancer who may not be screened under standard guidelines.   

Other groups that will be the focus of the assessment include: 

• High-risk individuals ages 45 and older who fall within the typical screening age range but may need a more rigorous screening schedule.
• The African American community, which tends to have the highest cancer mortality rates and shortest survival times after diagnosis compared with other racial and ethnic groups.