Regents OK Hospital for UCSD Campus
The University of California Board of Regents on Friday approved the construction of a $74-million hospital on the UC San Diego campus.
Meeting at the UCLA campus, the board voted in favor of the 120-bed Satellite Medical Facility, which is expected to draw patients from the North County and North City areas.
The existing UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest has suffered financial woes because many of its patients are indigent or lack private medical insurance.
“I am extremely pleased with the regents’ approval of the satellite medical facility,” said UCSD Chancellor Richard C. Atkinson. “Their decision creates a vitally needed hospital that enhances the medical school’s teaching and research programs, and allows us to better serve the medical needs of the community.”
The facility will be built on 40 acres east of Interstate 5 and will be paid for with external financing. Construction is scheduled to be finished in 1991.
The satellite medical facility will contain 108 general medical-surgical beds and 12 critical care beds. An ambulatory care center will be built next to the hospital. Both facilities will contain conference and teaching space.
Also, UCSD’s existing Medical Center in Hillcrest will transfer 120 of its 447 licensed beds to the campus.
With the transfer, the decrease in the number of beds at the Hillcrest medical center will allow for critically needed improvements to the hospital. The new facility will allow the utilization of all UCSD’s licensed beds, not now possible because of the space limitations.
The hospital will also improve access to the UCSD health-care system for the growing population in San Diego’s northern areas. These factors combined will allow UCSD to achieve a critical balance between privately insured and under-insured patients, and actually increase the number of under-insured patients the hospital can treat, according to planners.
The board’s approval marked the climax of several years of planning geared toward curbing crowding at the Hillcrest hospital.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
