USC Trustees OK $100-Million Plan for New Hospital

The USC Board of Trustees unanimously approved a plan Wednesday to let the nation’s second largest medical corporation build the university a $100-million health complex just northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The new medical center, to be built by National Medical Enterprises Inc., will be a highly sophisticated medical-care facility designed to attract wealthier patients than those at County-USC Medical Center, where the university’s doctors and medical students provide primary care largely for poor and indigent patients.

Although an exact site for the new center has not yet been chosen, the university expects to begin construction by the end of 1986 and complete the project by the end of 1988.

University officials do not “expect any problems” in locating the complex “on or near” USC’s health sciences campus at County-USC, according to Joseph P. Van Der Meulen, USC’s vice president for health affairs.

Likewise, Van Der Meulen said, the university is reasonably optimistic that it will win the necessary approval from the state for construction of the hospital, even though many nearby medical facilities now stand only half occupied.

Without knowing details of the arrangement, health planners and community representatives contacted by The Times on Wednesday were reluctant to comment on the project, although several expressed concern that the new center was unnecessary in light of the area’s current abundance of hospital beds. Moreover, some health planners said the new hospital could undercut USC’s commitment to serving poor patients at County-USC.

In a telephone interview, Van Der Meulen acknowledged the potential threat to medical care for the poor, saying, “The county wants to make sure we will maintain our level of commitment. We are working with them to make certain that we do.”

For example, he said, USC faculty members would be required to put in “part of their time” treating patients at County-USC, even though they would see private patients at the new facility.

Under the plan for the new hospital, physicians who practice in the new facility will be required to turn back some of the patient fees to USC, a practice followed by other university teaching hospitals. Although the exact figure has yet to be set, Van Der Meulen said he anticipates that it would run about 4% or 5%.

Except for physicians fees, the complex will be financed and managed by National Medical Enterprises. National Medical Enterprises owns, operates or manages 444 acute-care, psychiatric and long-term-care hospitals with more than 52,000 beds.

Under the plan approved by the board, the complex will include a medical office building, a diagnostic and treatment center, small hotel, parking structure and 275-bed hospital equipped with the most sophisticated medical technology available and designed to treat serious medical problems.

USC officials said earlier that the new hospital is attractive to the university for several reasons. By having a highly sophisticated hospital at its disposal, USC said it would be in a better position to recruit top-flight faculty and create a national reputation for its medical education and care programs. Moreover, by having a facility in which to hospitalize private-paying patients, as opposed to government-subsidized patients, the university would be in a better position to raise money from the private sector.