BC ends program that sent cancer patients to Washington State for treatment

Starting this May, cancer patients in British Columbia will no longer be sent to Washington State for radiation therapy, as wait times within the province have significantly improved.

The temporary program, launched in May 2023, allowed eligible patients to receive timely radiation treatment at two clinics in Bellingham while the province worked to expand in-province capacity.

But with shorter wait times now being achieved at home, the province says the cross-border option is no longer necessary.

Health Minister Josie Osborne says this is a sign that BC’s 10-Year Cancer Action Plan is paying off.

“Our priority has always been to ensure that cancer patients have timely access to life-saving treatment while we build and strengthen B.C.’s public health-care system for the long term,” Osborne said. “Thanks to the progress we’ve made over the past two years, we can now safely wind down this temporary program and focus on getting patients the care they need in B.C.”

As of the end of February, 93% of patients were starting radiation within four weeks—surpassing the national benchmark of 90%. That’s a 24% improvement from spring 2023, when just 69% of patients began treatment within that same timeframe.

Since the program began, more than 1,100 patients have received care in the US.

At its peak in fall 2023, about 50 patients per week were crossing the border for treatment.

But demand has dropped as in-province access has improved. If the program continued, only about 104 patients—just 0.6% of the 16,900 projected to need radiation in 2025-26—would be expected to use it.

The province says these patients can now be accommodated in BC.

Contracts with the two US clinics are set to expire in May and will not be renewed. Nine patients are still scheduled to complete their treatment there before the contracts end.

The province says its focus now is on continued expansion of cancer care, with new regional cancer centres planned for Nanaimo, Kamloops, Surrey, and Burnaby. These will join existing centres in Abbotsford, Kelowna, Prince George, Surrey, Vancouver, and Victoria.