UCSD's New Vision for Health Care
03/04/2005
Lucy Killea,
San Diego Union-Tribune
As a longtime member of the San Diego community, I have watched the UCSD School of Medicine grow and develop into an extraordinary institution that has helped transform our region in many positive ways. These changes have included creating a truly outstanding medical facility that serves our diverse population with the finest health care available - even those who ordinarily might not be able to afford access to care.
UCSD has announced plans to further improve its health system, and their vision is very exciting. Look at the changes we've seen in only a few decades. In 1985, a typical gallbladder surgery required a major incision, a long hospital stay and roughly six weeks of painful recovery. Today, the same surgery requires less than a 24-hour hospital stay, with a short recovery period. And, preventive medicine and disease management have become the focus. As patients, we want our doctors to keep us out of the hospital.
Health care systems need to adapt to meet the changing needs and expectations of patients. UCSD Medical Center has announced its vision to transform its programs and facilities over the next 15-20 years and the transformation will be profound.
The UCSD Hillcrest Campus, which serves my neighborhood, will be home to three new centers of excellence. A center for population-based health will better enable UCSD faculty to collaborate with community partners to develop solutions for challenging public health issues such as obesity, and alcohol and drug abuse. This is a national priority. This approach has resulted in significant progress in fighting the effects of second-hand smoke, for example. Over the next decade, UCSD will strive, through research, education and outreach, to produce similar results with obesity, today's leading public health concern.
UCSD also will create a modern center for emergency and urgent care services utilizing technologies such as telemedicine, which uses information technology to bring doctors to the patient from remote locations to provide consultation on medical concerns. The center also will be equipped to handle large numbers of patients in the event of a public health crisis.
The third center will be an expanded, state-of-the-art outpatient health facility offering a full range of patient services, and state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment technologies.
Completing the transformation of UCSD's Medical Center campuses will be a new 500-bed University Hospital on UCSD's East Campus in La Jolla, consolidating all inpatient beds into a single facility. The benefits of a single hospital are numerous. Patients will receive improved care and service because physicians, nurses and specialists can work more effectively as patient care teams by focusing their time in one location. Proximity to the new Moores UCSD Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Center and many other renowned medical facilities will improve synergies among highly trained doctors and researchers.
Finally, as we can all appreciate when we look at spiraling medical costs, the expensive duplications of technology and infrastructure required to operate two facilities will be eliminated, allowing UCSD to use its resources to improve patient care and service.
While the overall model being pursued by UCSD is a new vision for San Diego, elements of this plan have already proved successful. The Hillcrest Emergency Services Center will continue to serve patients after inpatient beds are consolidated into one facility on the UCSD East Campus. This pioneering model has proven successful in Fairfax, Va.; Houston, Texas; and a growing number of other communities.
All provide exceptional care. And, the concept of surrounding a hospital with advanced medical facilities, as will be the case at UCSD's East Campus, excels at world-class medical facilities such as the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and at the Texas Medical Center in Houston.
UCSD will meet with the public in coming months to give patients and the community a chance to learn more about the plan, give input, ask questions and get answers.
Most importantly, UCSD will continue its long-standing tradition of serving the broad spectrum of patients who currently depend on UCSD for health care.
UCSD's commitment to the community is unwavering and will be enhanced with implementation of each of these new initiatives. Change can be hard to accept, but when it is change for the better, we should all embrace it.
It will take UCSD Medical Center 15 to 20 years to fully implement its vision for health care. During this time, the need for improved outpatient and emergency facilities will become more important than ever as people live longer and preventing disease becomes as important as treatment.
Fortunately for San Diegans, UCSD Medical Center will be ready to meet the challenge.
Killea, a former member of the San Diego City Council, state Senate and Assembly, is chair of UCSD's Board of Overseers, a group of community leaders who serve as an advisory body to UCSD.
