Nashville-based cancer care startup OneOncology has continued its growth spurt by bringing on new leadership, including former Senator Bill Frist to its board, and preparing for the addition of new cancer practices in 2019.
The company expects to name a chief medical officer soon and recently named Erich Mounce, CEO of West Cancer Center, as its first chief operating officer. OneOncology was formed earlier in partnership with an EHR technology platform partner, New York-based Flatiron Health. It tied together three founding practices include Tennessee Oncology, New York Blood and Cancer Specialists and West Cancer Center, representing more than 200 oncology providers.
Earlier this year, the group received $200 million in backing from private equity firm General Atlantic.
OneOncology partners with practices to address those challenges by creating economies of scale and economies of knowledge to reduce operating costs, increase the access to capital and share best practices, research and clinical trial opportunities across the platform.
"We've spent the first few months really building an infrastructure that would support the three founding practices and all practices going forward," CEO Tracy Bahl told FierceHealthcare in an interview. They are also fielding interest from large-scale practices seeking to join OneOncology, he said. "We anticipate adding two more practices early in 2019. We will then take a self-imposed pause in the second quarter to make sure we're delivering on the value we've promised."
The executive leadership team includes Bahl, a former CVS executive, and Board Chairman David Chernow, who is the co-founder of American Oncology Resources, now known as US Oncology. The team will also include Phil Watts, former general counsel of US Oncology, as the new general counsel, and Robin Shah, who is former vice president of provider marketing at Flatiron Health.
The addition of Frist reinforces the physician-led element of the business, Bahl said.
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Frist has served on health-related boards including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former First Lady Michelle Obama's "Partnership for a Healthier America" campaign and the Advisory Committees for Global Health at Duke and Harvard. He is also on the advisory board for companies ZocDoc and aTherapy. He was notably one of the high profile board members of the disgraced Silicon Valley blood testing startup Theranos.