USC Hospital and Care for Poor
Although the opening of the new USC University Hospital on the Richard K. Eamer Medical Plaza has been much celebrated and commented upon, I believe there are some major points that still need to be clarified. Perhaps the most important of these is the University of Southern California’s commitment to providing state-of-the-art health care to all citizens, regardless of whether or not they are covered by private health insurance. I doubt there will be another university in America that will be as successful as USC in reaching such a broad spectrum of the population. Consider these three points:
First, there is indeed a two-tiered system of health care in this country, but it is just not correct to characterize it as “rich” and “poor”; the more accurate characterization is “insured” and “uninsured.” The fact is, 72% of all Americans under the age of 65 are covered by private health insurance. It is these people who will primarily be served by the new USC hospital.
Second, at a time when the trend is for medical schools to distance themselves from the provision of public medical care, USC has embraced its relationship with Los Angeles County with a renewed vigor and determination. For more than 100 years the USC School of Medicine has been devoted to treating the poor.
The Southern California community had come to expect that USC would always be able to attract the best medical talent in the nation to teach the next generation of doctors, to conduct life-saving research and to staff one of the nation’s largest and most respected county medical centers. Unfortunately, a major problem was beginning to develop. Of the nation’s top medical schools, USC’s was the only one that did not have its own private-practice university hospital.
Now that major deficiency has been remedied. The new USC University Hospital will better enable USC to recruit and retain outstanding medical faculty--all of whom will carry clinical responsibilities at LAC-USC Medical Center.
Finally, National Medical Enterprises, Inc. (NME) has chosen to invest $157 million in a community anxious for new job opportunities and economic development. It is anticipated that the project will eventually create up to 1,400 new jobs, for which applicants will be heavily recruited from the local community. This in turn is likely to attract much-needed amenities to the community, adding to the quality of life for everyone.
One early example of this community support is the Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School that now enrolls 1,100 exceptional students from throughout Los Angeles, and will eventually enroll 2,000. NME’s investment and construction assistance have made it possible to open this new magnet school in record time.
This partnership between USC, Los Angeles County and NME is a noble experiment--the first in the nation to join government, private enterprise and a private university in serving all citizens through medical research, teaching and health care. I believe we may well be creating a model that the rest of the country will want to emulate in the future.
STEVEN B. SAMPLE, President, USC
