University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has been designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Cellular Immunotherapy — CAR-T, a new designation under the Blue Distinction Specialty Care Program, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced this week. Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated hospitals that show a commitment to improving patient safety and better health outcomes, Wellmark said in the announcement. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapies in 2017 to treat certain types of patients with leukemia and lymphoma; an estimated 143,480 people were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma in 2018.