(Via Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program Long Range Plan)
Florida’s efforts to battle cancer could prove the source of another fight in the state Legislature this year, especially if legislative leaders stick with promises to curtail spending now that federal stimulus dollars have dried up.
Florida has four National Cancer Institute–designated research and treatment centers that annually receive $127.5 million in state funds to help them recruit the best and brightest medical minds to advance cancer research.
But a new long-range plan submitted to the Legislature by the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis recommends that the state money, known as Casey DeSantis Research Funds, be made available to additional cancer providers.
“While their NCI designations highlight their exceptional capabilities, this exclusivity limits funding accessibility for other cancer facilities and research institutions across Florida, including those in rural or underserved areas,” the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program Long Range Plan notes.
This recommendation could pit the NCI-designated Moffitt Cancer Center; University of Florida Health Cancer Center; Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center against large hospital networks that provide comprehensive cancer programs and pediatric cancer hospitals.
The plan notes that Florida has the third largest child population in the United States but that last fiscal year only 2.6% of the cancer research funding in Florida went to pediatric research.
$847.1 million has been appropriated to the NCI-designated facilities since 2014
– Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program Long Range Plan, Dec. 1, 2024
Cancer has been the second-leading cause of death in Florida since 2014. Florida has the third largest population in the country but the second-highest cancer burden, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, more than 130,000 new cancer cases are reported to the statewide cancer registry at the Florida Department of Health.
The $127.5 million is directed to four facilities that, according to the long-range plan, treat only 10% of the cancer patients in the state.
“Transforming Florida’s approach to cancer prevention, treatment, and research will provide funding for a broader range of cancer facilities, improve cancer care, and further drive innovative research,” the plan states.
“By expanding access to cancer funding to a broader range of cancer facilities, this transformative process offers the possibility of creating a stronger, broader cancer care network with access for people in rural areas and one that includes pediatric cancer facilities.”
Third time in three years
It’s not clear how the Dec. 1 long range plan is being received by lawmakers. This will be the third time in as many years, though, that the Legislature is being asked to reconsider cancer research funding.
It also comes as House Speaker Rep. Danny Perez has promised to trim state spending, putting the $33 billion state health and human services budget on the chopping block.
DeSantis pushed increases in the amount of money the state was spending on cancer research following First Lady Casey DeSantis’ 2021 cancer diagnosis. She was later declared cancer-free.
The Legislature in 2022 increased funding for what was then known as the NCI Centers Program, created in 2014 to support cancer research at Florida-domiciled NCI facilities. Lawmakers pumped an additional $37million into the program and renamed it in honor of the First Lady.
Former House Speaker Paul Renner began a push in 2023 to remove the statutory requirement that the funding be given only to state-domiciled facilities.
The bill passed in 2024 and allowed the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to receive a portion of the money. To hold the other three NCI facilities harmless, the Legislature agreed to infuse another $27.5 million into the program.
The money is distributed according to a formula laid out in statute. The long-range plan recommends eliminating that formula and creating a new statewide cancer research framework housed in the Department of Health to administer the funds along with the Cancer Connect Collaborative, an advisory panel the First Lady initially announced through her office but which the Legislature agreed to codify last year.
Since 2014, the $847.1 million has been appropriated to the NCI-designated facilities, the report notes.
Why NCI?
The National Cancer Institute is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training. NCI leads, conducts, and supports cancer research across the nation. There are 72 NCI-designated facilities nationwide.
The four Florida NCI centers are part of the the Florida Academic Center Center Alliance. During a House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee meeting in January 2023, John Cleveland, Moffitt‘s executive vice president, director, and scientific officer, extolled the decision by the Legislature in 2014 to spend money on NCI-designated facilities.
He told members of the subcommittee that the return on investment has been significant in every measurable way. Between 2016 and 2019, alliance members were responsible for 12,000 jobs, $1.18 billion in revenue, and $401 million in tax revenue for the state, Cleveland said. (Those figures don’t include Mayo, which didn’t receive additional funds at the time and therefore wasn’t a member of the alliance.)
Additionally, the three facilities had recruited 352 staff and researchers to Florida with the additional funds, he said.
“I go up against Harvard, Stanford, and Penn [University of Pennsylvania] …. and we’re successful in bringing the best and brightest investigators to the state of Florida,” Cleveland said. “Yes, it is a beautiful place to live and that always helps, but one of the carrots is this program. Because this program allows us to provide startup packages that are attractive and competitive and allows us to support salaries for these investigators.”
Economics aside, Cleveland said, the money has helped grow the NCI centers to the benefit of public health. He said the facilities provide care that other cancer centers cannot.
“At an NCI designated cancer center, you get tomorrow’s care today. That comes from clinical trials,” Cleveland said. “Those are the trials that really save lives. “
Rep. Sam Garrison, who chaired the House health care spending panel at the time, praised the “academic prowess” of NCI facilities and called them “critical.”
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