Bringing care closer to home has been a driving force for UC San Diego Health as the system works to enhance access and stabilize healthcare in one of California's most underserved regions.
From acquiring a community hospital to expanding outpatient services, CEO Patty Maysent is leading efforts to meet growing demand.
An increase in demand for services, especially quaternary care, has prompted the system to explore new strategies to manage capacity, she told Becker's.
One key move was UC San Diego Health's December 2023 acquisition of a 302-bed community hospital from Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare, now known as UC San Diego Health East Campus Medical Center. The acquisition shifted patient volume from the system's main campuses to care sites closer to where patients live and expanded services in eastern San Diego.
"2024 was a big learning period for us as we aligned the teams, updated facilities and built out the strategic plan and relationships with the physician community," Ms. Maysent said. "That hospital includes both our own faculty physicians as well as community physicians. Building out that model was a lot of work, and we learned a lot, but it has been central to trying to serve more of the community closer to home, create better access and quality, and help our own tertiary and quaternary services grow."
As part of the integration, UC San Diego Health implemented Epic's EHR at the hospital to ensure systemwide connectivity.
"On the culture side, we integrated and collaborated with their existing teams and leadership," Ms. Maysent said. "A physician clinical medical officer and chief operating officer, who had extensive backgrounds working in the community, were dedicated to the hospital site."
15-year revitalization plan kicks off
Looking ahead, UC San Diego Health is continuing to update facilities and expand services to address capacity challenges.
In July, the system will open a 251,000-square-foot outpatient pavilion at its Hillcrest campus, housing clinical and surgical services.
"It's going to be the first integrated cancer center, with radiation, infusion and multidisciplinary clinical trials all under one roof," Ms. Maysent said. "It will also expand the services that are already at capacity."
The pavilion marks the first of five phases in the system's 15-year revitalization project, which will later include an expanded medical campus.
Imperial Valley collaboration
For the past decade, UC San Diego Health has worked to stabilize care in California's Imperial Valley, a region with healthcare access challenges.
The system manages El Centro (Calif.) Regional Medical Center through a joint powers agreement and has been collaborating with the Imperial Valley Healthcare District, which operates Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley, Calif., in support of unifying the hospitals.
"We've been working with them to come together as a single health system, which is completely needed out there," Ms. Maysent said. "They need enough scale to build more clinical services. I think before the end of the year, we'll see the amalgamation of these health systems into the Imperial Valley Health District and in a position to stabilize healthcare in Imperial Valley."
The county's payer mix is challenging, and historically the two hospitals have competed with one another, she said.
"The only sustainable long-term solution is for them to come together and to have enough scale, so that we can have a cancer footprint out there, 24/7 critical care, a single radiology service that could cover the whole region, so that they have better care closer to home," Ms. Maysent said. "The point is not to bring patients into San Diego or to Palm Desert. The point is to keep patients there and ensure that they have access to the best community-based and tertiary care that we can build out there."