A conversation with Jorge Garcia, PharmD, Founder, Patagonia Healthcare
Advanced cancer therapies are moving out of the hospital. The monitoring infrastructure hasn’t always followed.
In this episode of Targeted Oncology’s Treating Together podcast, Dr. Pallav Mehta sits down with Jorge Garcia, PharmD — founder of Patagonia Healthcare and a veteran of complex therapy program buildout at Baptist Health South Florida — to explore what it actually takes to bring CAR-T and bispecific therapies safely into outpatient and community settings.
The conversation is grounded, operational, and direct. It’s built for oncology program leaders, health system administrators, and clinical teams navigating this shift in real time.
“It’s not a matter of if patients will have toxicities. It’s a matter of when — and we need good processes in place to respond.”
— Jorge Garcia, PharmD, Founder, Patagonia Healthcare
What this episode covers
The shift from inpatient to outpatient Why the default of keeping CAR-T and bispecific patients inpatient is no longer sustainable — clinically, operationally, or financially — and what the transition to outpatient delivery actually requires.
The real barrier to access It’s not the science. It’s the infrastructure. The ability to distinguish an expected symptom from an actionable one — quickly, around the clock — is what separates safe outpatient delivery from a preventable hospitalization.
The cost math Inpatient delivery of advanced therapies is the most expensive site of care for patients, payers, and health systems alike. Outpatient delivery changes the equation. The barrier to getting there is building what makes it possible.
Community oncology and the access gap Cancer outcomes are consistently worse in rural areas — later diagnoses, fewer options. Community practices are closest to those patients, but most don’t yet have the monitoring infrastructure to independently deliver bispecific therapies. That gap is a cancer equity issue.
The role of technology For many programs, a virtual monitoring platform that can filter expected symptoms from actionable ones isn’t a supplement to outpatient advanced therapy delivery — it’s the prerequisite.
About the guests
Pallav Mehta, MD — Host Dr. Mehta is a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer and the Medical Director of Reimagine Care. He practices at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and serves as an assistant professor of medicine at Cooper Medical School. He brings nearly 20 years of clinical experience to his work at the intersection of oncology and virtual care.
Jorge Garcia, PharmD — Guest Dr. Garcia is the founder and principal of Patagonia Healthcare, which works with provider organizations to establish sustainable access to complex pharmacotherapeutics. He previously served as Assistant Vice President of Pharmacy at Baptist Health South Florida, where he built and led programs in CAR-T, gene therapy, bispecific antibodies, and oncology service line development.
How Reimagine Care supports advanced therapy programs
This is the infrastructure challenge we think about every day.
Reimagine Care’s Advanced Therapy Management program was built specifically to support CAR-T and bispecific patients beyond hospital walls — providing the monitoring infrastructure that makes outpatient delivery clinically and operationally viable.
What we provide:
- 24/7 oncology-trained clinicians available via text, phone, and video
- Connected device monitoring — temperature, blood pressure, pulse oximetry
- AI-assisted symptom triage that filters expected symptoms from actionable ones – Meet Remi
- Automated patient check-ins and real-time escalation protocols
- Caregiver engagement and education support
We partner with oncology practices and health systems to extend their clinical capacity — without adding operational burden to already stretched teams.
If advanced therapy access is on your roadmap, let’s talk.
Whether you’re building a bispecific program, expanding CAR-T to outpatient, or exploring what virtual monitoring could look like for your patients — we’d welcome the conversation.
More from the Treating Together series
This is part of a four-part series featuring Dr. Pallav Mehta on Targeted Oncology’s Treating Together podcast.
- Part 1: Community Oncology at a Crossroads — with Debra Patt, MD
- Part 2: Precision Hope: The New Frontier of AI-Driven Oncology — with Douglas Flora, MD
- Part 3: Beyond the Hospital Walls (you are here)
- Part 4: (coming soon)