Governor Kathy Hochul announced a landmark $180 million state investment on Friday to improve healthcare access in Queens, unveiling plans for the borough’s first comprehensive cancer care center at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC).
The state-funded project aims to provide world-class cancer treatment closer to home for Queens residents, eliminating the need to travel to Manhattan for care.
Hochul made the announcement during a press conference on Jan. 17 at Jamaica Hospital, located at 91st and Van Wyck, joined by hospital executives and local leaders, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, State Sen. Leroy Comrie, Council Member Lynn Schulman and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
Bruce J. Flanz, President and CEO of MediSys Health Network, which oversees Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC), has been instrumental in cultivating the hospital’s partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).
Flanz explained to QNS that the new 90,000-square-foot cancer center will be developed in collaboration with MSKCC, building on their longstanding relationship. The facility will feature a state-of-the-art Radiation and Infusion Therapy Campus, providing comprehensive cancer care to Queens residents.
“They’ve been providing clinical expertise first in medical oncology, and now we’re expanding to surgical oncology and radiation oncology so that we can provide the people of Queens with the same level of care that we get with Memorial,” he said. Flanz added that the facility will strengthen the hospital’s ongoing relationship with MSK and provide local residents with a high standard of care.
The cancer center’s funding comes from Hochul’s Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program, established in the FY25 Enacted Budget. The program incentivizes partnerships between safety-net hospitals and healthcare organizations. The state will provide up to $188 million in capital funding to support the cancer center’s creation.
JHMC and MSKCC are among seven hospitals and healthcare partnerships across New York that have preliminarily approved projects as part of the Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program.
The other partnerships include Glens Falls Hospital and Albany Med Health System; Bertrand Chaffee Hospital, Brooks Hospital, Olean General Hospital, and Kaleida Health; St. Barnabas Hospital, Cityblock Health, and Union Community Health Center; Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital and Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center (dba Westchester Community Health Center); University of Vermont (UVM) Health Network, including UVM Alice Hyde Medical Center and UVM Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital; and Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in collaboration with Otsego County Ambulance Services and Noble Health Services.
The Department of Health will work with these applicants to refine the operating and capital needs to enact the proposed plans.
Hochul said that the funding will provide patients at JHMC the same access to world-renowned care that they will receive at MSKCC. “The people here, some of them are just struggling and they didn’t ask for their lot in life, they’re hard working people,” she said. “We can say we can offer you the caliber of the same health care that the richest of the rich can afford just a few miles away in Manhattan; we can bring it right here,” Hochul said.
Local elected officials expressed their excitement about the news of the capital funding.
Rep. Meeks emphasized that healthcare is a “mandate for every single human being.”
“To say that Sloan Kettering is now partnering with Jamaica Hosptial says to all of us- all of you who are living in Queens and look to this hospital for service- it says that we are deserving,” Meeks said.
Richards shared a personal story from over two decades ago, describing how he would travel over an hour on the subway to visit his grandmother, who was receiving cancer treatments at MSKCC. “Think about that: we had to travel to Manhattan for quality care to treat her diagnosis. As our congress member said [Meeks], your socioeconomic status and your zip code should not be a determinant of whether you have access to quality healthcare,” he said. “Healthcare is a human right for everyone.”
Richards said that the funding will go directly to saving lives and bringing access to much closer cancer care to BIPOC individuals living in Queens. “This is going to save lives in this community. To be able to have Sloan Kettering in Queens is a huge deal,” Richards told QNS. Richards added that residents living in Jamaica and other parts of Southeast Queens could now have about a 15-minute ride to get comprehensive cancer care close to home.
The Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program application process is rolling. Applications will continue to be reviewed and approved on an ongoing basis. In its first year, the program’s demand exceeded available funding. Hochul announced in her 2025 State of the State that she will allocate additional resources to the program in FY26.
