MEDICAL : United Western Medical Center Closes Its 2 Outpatient Care Units in Irvine

In 1985, United Western Medical Center, which operates hospitals in Santa Ana and Anaheim, was the first of several out-of-town hospitals to compete for patients in Irvine by placing an outpatient facility there. Now it is the first hospital to pack up and leave.

Last weekend all equipment was moved out of the diagnostic imaging and surgi-centers at 4900 Barranca Ave. in Woodbridge. Officials at United Western Medical Center, which had owned the surgi-center and had been a general partner in the imaging center, said both operations were shut because they were money losers.

“There were a lot of efforts to make it (the outpatient facility) work. But you can only bleed so long,” said Douglas Drumwright, United Western Medical Center’s president and chief executive officer. He said as a last-ditch effort to keep the surgi-center going, the hospital tried without success to syndicate the business to physicians.

Another reason for closing the facility, Drumwright said, is the impending debut of Irvine’s first community hospital. Irvine Medical Center, a 177-bed hospital, is scheduled to open in January.

Other hospitals that continue to operate outreach medical services in Irvine include Hoag Hospital of Newport Beach, St. Joseph Hospital of Orange and Kaiser Permanente, a health maintenance organization.