University of California San Francisco Health has dropped a plan to expand its partnership with San Francisco-based Dignity Health.
UCSF officials said they received hundreds of statements about the proposed affiliation in recent weeks, many of which raised concerns about an expanded relationship between the two organizations.
"We respect and appreciate the diversity of opinions from multiple stakeholders both within UCSF and outside our university, and we have heard you all," UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS, said in an email to the UCSF community. "Given the concerns, we will not continue to pursue the affiliation as it had been envisioned, which would have created a stronger link between UCSF Health and Dignity Health's four Bay Area hospitals."
Many local residents expressed concern about UCSF's plan to expand its partnership with Dignity Health due to how the affiliation could affect patient care.
Dignity Health, part of San Francisco-based CommonSpirit Health, is a Catholic health system, which has certain limits on women's reproductive services, LGBTQ care and end-of-life options.
Although UCSF is no longer seeking to expand its partnership with Dignity Health, the two organizations will continue to collaborate in certain areas.
"We have collaborated with Dignity Health over the last 20 years and work with them to provide critical patient services, including hospital medicine, mental health, neurology, neurosurgery and pediatric burn care, among others," according to the UCSF Health website.
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