DETROIT – Karmanos Cancer Hospital has filed a lawsuit against Detroit Medical Center and its parent company, Tenet Healthcare, alleging the for-profit health system threatened to cut critical services — a move Karmanos says could jeopardize care for thousands of cancer patients.
“We did not arrive at this conclusion or this action lightly,” said Brian Gamble, president and CEO of Karmanos Cancer Hospital.
The services include laboratory operations, operating room access, scheduling, IT integration and dietary services.
“We took this action as a preemptive action to preserve and protect our patients,” Gamble said.
Background: Karmanos, DMC separate but remain tied
The dispute has roots in a 2005 agreement signed when Karmanos separated from DMC and became Michigan’s only independent, freestanding cancer hospital. Under that agreement, Karmanos leases space on DMC’s downtown Detroit campus and is required to purchase certain services through DMC.
Karmanos says the relationship has grown increasingly strained — citing rising costs and declining service quality.
“We are lacking transparency, and we are not satisfied with the solutions and the service levels we are getting,” Gamble said.
From $28M to $82M: Costs at the center of the dispute
At the heart of the lawsuit is a dramatic increase in service fees.
According to the filing, Tenet was charging Karmanos approximately $28 million annually for services. Karmanos alleges Tenet is now seeking $82 million.
Karmanos also claims that although it accounts for only 25–30% of operating room utilization, DMC allocates approximately 75% of related costs to the center. The lawsuit states multiple requests for an explanation have gone unanswered.
What this means for patients
For now, services have not been disrupted as a judge weighs both sides of the dispute.
“Despite our contractual disagreements with Tenet and DMC, there will be no disruption to patient care,” Gamble said.
Karmanos is one of fewer than 60 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the country and the only one in metro Detroit. The center treated nearly 16,000 new cases in fiscal year 2025 — the most in its history.
The lawsuit argues that financial resources that could support enhanced patient care have instead been directed toward payments to DMC, and that DMC has repeatedly blocked Karmanos’ efforts to expand and build new facilities.
“Bottom line — we’re fighting for the future of cancer care in Detroit and our region,” Gamble said. “This is about protecting patients, supporting our teams and ensuring Karmanos can continue to grow to improve the quality of service provided and invest and serve the community for generations to come.”
DMC and Tenet Healthcare have not yet issued a public statement regarding the allegations at the time of this report.
“For more than 100 years, the Detroit Medical Center has been this city’s healthcare safety net. Thousands of patients are being seen and treated on our campus every day.
Karmanos is owned by McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, and has no other presence in our city, preferring to center their broader healthcare services in wealthier suburbs of Michigan while relying on the DMC to subsidize its operations locally.
Karmanos was built here, on DMC’s campus, with DMC, for Detroit’s patients. DMC supplies to Karmanos what a cancer hospital cannot run without: laboratory, medical records, and operating room services among others.
McLaren made a long term commitment with Karmanos in Detroit and now files a frivolous lawsuit as a disguised attempt to renege on their commitments on the DMC campus.
For more than a year, McLaren decided on its own what to pay for the support services it uses every day and paid a fraction of the cost.
McLaren, as one of the wealthiest hospital systems in America that also owns an insurance company spent over a year asking a Detroit safety-net hospital to subsidize it.
We absorbed the loss rather than let a payment dispute reach a single bedside. When finally asked to pay fair market value, McLaren sued, skipping the private mediation its own agreements require. That was a choice about publicity, and not about principle.
DMC honored its agreements. To this day, despite subsidizing the cost of these services for Karmanos, all necessary care remains available from the DMC.
We expect McLaren to honor its own commitments. We reject the allegations and will answer them in court.
We will not be taken advantage of. Not when the people of Detroit are the ones who pay for it.
Detroit Medical Center