Scripps Speeds Plan to Merge Clinic, Hospital

The gradual reshaping of San Diego County’s health care services picked up speed Wednesday when Scripps Clinic and Scripps Memorial Hospital consolidated their boards of trustees and management structures into a new entity to be called ScrippsHealth.

Scripps Clinic and Scripps Memorial Hospital announced their intent to merge in January, 1991, with the creation of the Scripps Institutions of Medicine and Science, or SIMS, a holding company for the two entities that had been independently operated for 44 years.

But on Wednesday, SIMS officials responded to “dramatic changes” in the local and national health care scene by speeding the pace of their planned merger.

Scripps’ consolidation is part of a nationwide evolution that has forced hospitals to become “one-stop providers” of health care, said SIMS President Charles C. Edwards. With the creation of ScrippsHealth, various Scripps operations are being fashioned into “a highly integrated health care delivery system,” Edwards said.

Scripps is readying for increased competition with Kaiser Permanente and Sharp Healthcare, two of the county’s largest health-care providers. Several other hospital groups--including UC San Diego and Mercy Hospital--also are scrambling to position themselves for the future through building programs and strategic alliances.

“The one clear message (from the consolidations) . . . is that Scripps is in San Diego to stay as a major player,” Edwards said. “We’re here to stay.”

So, it seems, are the county’s other hospitals.

Sharp, for example, has built a strong alliance with Grossmont Hospital, and is completing a planned affiliation with Mission Park Clinic, a North County health care provider that serves Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos. Sharp also owns Sharp Community Hospital of Chula Vista.

Kaiser, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in San Diego, has grown from a self-described “unknown entity” to one of the county’s dominant health-care providers with nearly 400,000 members.

UC San Diego Medical Center recently completed a major renovation of its Hillcrest facility that is in part designed to improve outpatient services. In 1993, the medical center will open The John M. and Sally B. Thornton Hospital, a 120-bed, general medical-surgical building to the east of the UCSD campus.

Under the arrangement announced Wednesday, ScrippsHealth will house Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation and Scripps Memorial Hospitals and the hospitals’ related health-care operations. The La Jolla-based Scripps Research Institute will remain separate but will also fall under the SIMS umbrella.

Consumers shouldn’t notice dramatic changes in health-care services, but the consolidation of “back-office” functions at the various Scripps operations will result in “the capability to adapt quickly to the dramatic changes in the health care industry,” Edwards said.

No layoffs are anticipated because of the consolidation, SIMS executive vice president Ames S. Early said. The various Scripps operations employ about 7,700 people in San Diego County.