“The fact that we’re focused on health, not sickness, makes sense to people.”
--Rodger Dougherty, Kaiser spokesman
"Kaiser's focus on 'health' doesn't make quite so much sense when a patient happens to get sick. Some patients are actually quite surprised when Kaiser fails to properly diagnose and treat them. When they joined, they didn't realize that Kaiser's focus was quite as limited as it turned out to be."
--Maura Larkins, Kaiser patient
Kaiser picks Kearny Mesa site for new hospital
Janet Lavelle
SDUT
Dec. 1, 2011
Kaiser Permanente announced Thursday that it has ended months of study and picked the county operations property in Kearny Mesa as the site for its new hospital, rejecting an option to buy the Alliant University campus in Scripps Ranch.
The decision was met with disappointment by the university and relief by Scripps Ranch residents worried that a hospital would overwhelm the quiet leafy suburb with traffic.
The purchase price for the 19.5-acre County Operations Center Annex property on Ruffin Road is at least $30 million, but would run higher if Kaiser gets permits to build a hospital larger than 425,000 square feet. The sale is scheduled to close Dec. 31, 2013, according to county documents.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts said the site, now home to the Registrar of Voters and some other county offices, makes sense for a hospital.
“It’s served us well for many years but I think it’s a perfect site for Kaiser and it’s got great access from the freeway,” he said. “It would be very compatible with what’s planned in the Kearny Mesa area.”
The property sits at the busy corner of Ruffin Road and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard between Highway 163 and Interstate 15, in a mixed industrial and commercial area with a scattering of residential streets.
Kaiser intends to build and open a 350-bed hospital there by 2018, either replacing or augmenting its existing 392-bed hospital on Zion Avenue in Grantville. By 2030, that facility will no longer meet state earthquake standards and will either need to be torn down, rebuilt or undergo extensive retrofitting, Kaiser spokesman Rodger Dougherty said.
Kaiser officials have said they plan to build up to three hospitals around the county over the next two decades to keep pace with a steadily growing membership.
Dougherty said Kaiser has seen solid growth since 2008 as individuals and employers looked for affordable health care during the recession. Kaiser currently has 506,000 members in San Diego County, adding 14,000 this year, he said.
“We expect that trend to continue, given health care reform and our own model of care,” he said. “The fact that we’re focused on health, not sickness, makes sense to people.”
San Diego’s competitive health care market already is home to 19 hospitals, with a 20th due to open when Palomar Pomerado Health completes a $1 billion hospital in Escondido next year. Scripps Health, Sharp Healthcare and UCSD also are working on major expansions.
Kaiser’s announcement snuffs a pending deal between it and Alliant for the 60-acre campus, which faced stiff opposition from neighbors.
More than 300 people packed a Scripps Ranch Planning Group meeting in November and another 400 sent emails to oppose the Kaiser project over concerns about traffic, lights, noise, emergency evacuation routes and dozens of other issues, vice chairman Robert Ilko said.
Although it was too soon for the committee to take a position on the project, the community sentiment was obvious, Ilko said. “It was clearly no on Kaiser,” he said.
Alliant University president Geoffrey Cox said he was notified of the decision Thursday. “We’re very disappointed,” he said. “We thought it was a good project and fit well with the campus site.”
Cox said the university had decided to look for a new location before Kaiser approached it last spring. The sprawling campus, built 40 years ago for an undergraduate residential university, no longer fits a graduate-degree program with 1,500 day students, he said.
“We were in the very preliminary stages of looking for another site,” he said. “Now we’ll have to regroup and decide whether to continue that process right now.”
The Ruffin Road property has been part of a $460 million agreement between the county and Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group. Under the agreement, Lowe is midway through redeveloping the 32-acre main County Operations Center on Overland Avenue and also has development rights on the Ruffin Road site.
In October, county supervisors voted to allow a transfer of development rights from Lowe to Kaiser for the Ruffin Road land, if Kaiser decided to proceed with a purchase. With that decision now made, the transfer of development rights should be completed within two weeks, said John Kross, deputy director of the county Department of General Services.
The closing date of December 2013 allows the county time to move departments at Ruffin Road over to new buildings at the main operations center.
The Lowe project envisioned a mixed residential and commercial development on Ruffin Road. Kearny Mesa Planning Group Chairman Buzz Gibbs said he thinks a hospital is more appropriate.
“Personally, I would much prefer a hospital there than residential,” he said. “Putting a couple of hundred units in an industrial area is a terrible idea.”
Showing posts with label Doughterty (Rodger Doughterty at Kaiser). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doughterty (Rodger Doughterty at Kaiser). Show all posts
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Scripps, Kaiser Permanente Extend Cardiovascular Partnership Another Decade, Keeping It the Region’s Largest Heart Program
See Kaiser Permanente administrators in San Diego.
Scripps, Kaiser Permanente Extend Cardiovascular Partnership Another Decade, Keeping It the Region’s Largest Heart Program
November 9, 2010
New agreement also includes bariatric surgery and hospital services
La Jolla, Calif. – Scripps Health and Kaiser Permanente announced today the two non-profit health systems have signed a 10-year comprehensive agreement, the longest-term contract in a 30-year partnership that continues a legacy of working together for the good of the community.
Under the agreement, Scripps will be the exclusive provider of cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology (at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla) and bariatric services (at Scripps Mercy San Diego) to the more than 500,000 Kaiser members across San Diego County. Scripps also will provide hospital services to Kaiser Permanente members transferred to a Scripps facility or who are treated in a Scripps emergency department. Scripps is the region’s largest provider of cardiovascular services and the only San Diego provider recognized by U.S. News & World Report as among the best for heart and heart surgery in 2010, a distinction reflective of the exceptional skills of the cardiovascular physicians of Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Health.
“This agreement extends our close working partnership that has been built over the past 30 years around quality, medical management, and patient satisfaction,” said Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “In an era of health care reform, collaboration is more important than ever before. Through it, we are able to maintain our standing as the largest cardiovascular program in the region, which allows us to make the best use of our infrastructure and leverage our expertise to best serve the community.”
“Kaiser Permanente and Scripps have worked in partnership for the past three decades to provide premier cardiovascular services to San Diego County,” said Mary Ann Barnes, Senior Vice President & Executive Director for Kaiser Permanente San Diego. “Through this new agreement, we look forward to even greater opportunities to provide innovative, leading edge cardiovascular health care.”
Scripps will break ground next year on a new eight-story, 383,000-square-foot hospital tower on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The new tower, estimated to cost $398 million, will serve as the hub of the Scripps Cardiovascular Institute, which will combine the cardiovascular programs of Kaiser Permanente, Scripps La Jolla and Scripps Green Hospital.
The institute will feature 108 in-patient beds in private rooms, 60 intensive care beds, 10 state-of-art operating rooms and cardiac catheterization labs with the most advanced medical technology, centralized cardiovascular research labs, and a center for graduate medical education.
Computerized room-level observation stations, a decentralized medication dispensing process and decentralized nurses stations allow caregivers to closely monitor patients and improve communications with family members. Rooms include a variety of amenities for families, including wireless internet access, plasma screen televisions and comfortable pullout couches for overnight stays.
Scripps performs more cardiovascular procedures than any other heart care program in California, last year providing cardiovascular care to more than 45,000 patients. In 2010, Scripps was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 10 health systems in the nation for quality care. Scripps has also achieved the gold standard for stroke care with Primary Stroke Center designation. Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego has been designated as a Bariatric Center of Excellence by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and the Surgical Review Corporation.
About Scripps Health
Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2.2 billion nonprofit community health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,500 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and an ambulatory care network of physician offices and 22 outpatient centers and clinics.
Scripps is also at the forefront of clinical research, genomic medicine, wireless health and graduate medical education. Scripps has been recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 10 health systems in the nation for quality care. With three highly respected graduate medical education programs, Scripps is a longstanding member of the Association of American Medical Colleges. More information can be found at www.scripps.org.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated not-for-profit health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a group practice prepayment program headquartered in Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente began serving San Diego in 1967, and currently provides care for nearly 500,000 members throughout the county. More than 7,400 staff and 3,200 physicians provide quality care at 20 medical facilities conveniently located throughout the county and at San Diego’s Kaiser Foundation Hospital. The hospital has 392 licensed beds and a 78-bed Emergency Department. To learn more, visit the web site at kp.org.
Scripps Media Contact: Janice Collins
Phone: 858-678-7486
E-mail: Collins.Janice@scrippshealth.org
Kaiser Permanente Media Contact: Rodger Dougherty
Phone: 619-528-7783
E-mail: rodger.w.dougherty@kp.org
Scripps Green Hospital, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, Heart Care, Heart Care (Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla)
Scripps, Kaiser Permanente Extend Cardiovascular Partnership Another Decade, Keeping It the Region’s Largest Heart Program
November 9, 2010
New agreement also includes bariatric surgery and hospital services
La Jolla, Calif. – Scripps Health and Kaiser Permanente announced today the two non-profit health systems have signed a 10-year comprehensive agreement, the longest-term contract in a 30-year partnership that continues a legacy of working together for the good of the community.
Under the agreement, Scripps will be the exclusive provider of cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology (at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla) and bariatric services (at Scripps Mercy San Diego) to the more than 500,000 Kaiser members across San Diego County. Scripps also will provide hospital services to Kaiser Permanente members transferred to a Scripps facility or who are treated in a Scripps emergency department. Scripps is the region’s largest provider of cardiovascular services and the only San Diego provider recognized by U.S. News & World Report as among the best for heart and heart surgery in 2010, a distinction reflective of the exceptional skills of the cardiovascular physicians of Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Health.
“This agreement extends our close working partnership that has been built over the past 30 years around quality, medical management, and patient satisfaction,” said Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “In an era of health care reform, collaboration is more important than ever before. Through it, we are able to maintain our standing as the largest cardiovascular program in the region, which allows us to make the best use of our infrastructure and leverage our expertise to best serve the community.”
“Kaiser Permanente and Scripps have worked in partnership for the past three decades to provide premier cardiovascular services to San Diego County,” said Mary Ann Barnes, Senior Vice President & Executive Director for Kaiser Permanente San Diego. “Through this new agreement, we look forward to even greater opportunities to provide innovative, leading edge cardiovascular health care.”
Scripps will break ground next year on a new eight-story, 383,000-square-foot hospital tower on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The new tower, estimated to cost $398 million, will serve as the hub of the Scripps Cardiovascular Institute, which will combine the cardiovascular programs of Kaiser Permanente, Scripps La Jolla and Scripps Green Hospital.
The institute will feature 108 in-patient beds in private rooms, 60 intensive care beds, 10 state-of-art operating rooms and cardiac catheterization labs with the most advanced medical technology, centralized cardiovascular research labs, and a center for graduate medical education.
Computerized room-level observation stations, a decentralized medication dispensing process and decentralized nurses stations allow caregivers to closely monitor patients and improve communications with family members. Rooms include a variety of amenities for families, including wireless internet access, plasma screen televisions and comfortable pullout couches for overnight stays.
Scripps performs more cardiovascular procedures than any other heart care program in California, last year providing cardiovascular care to more than 45,000 patients. In 2010, Scripps was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 10 health systems in the nation for quality care. Scripps has also achieved the gold standard for stroke care with Primary Stroke Center designation. Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego has been designated as a Bariatric Center of Excellence by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and the Surgical Review Corporation.
About Scripps Health
Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2.2 billion nonprofit community health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,500 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and an ambulatory care network of physician offices and 22 outpatient centers and clinics.
Scripps is also at the forefront of clinical research, genomic medicine, wireless health and graduate medical education. Scripps has been recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 10 health systems in the nation for quality care. With three highly respected graduate medical education programs, Scripps is a longstanding member of the Association of American Medical Colleges. More information can be found at www.scripps.org.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated not-for-profit health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a group practice prepayment program headquartered in Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente began serving San Diego in 1967, and currently provides care for nearly 500,000 members throughout the county. More than 7,400 staff and 3,200 physicians provide quality care at 20 medical facilities conveniently located throughout the county and at San Diego’s Kaiser Foundation Hospital. The hospital has 392 licensed beds and a 78-bed Emergency Department. To learn more, visit the web site at kp.org.
Scripps Media Contact: Janice Collins
Phone: 858-678-7486
E-mail: Collins.Janice@scrippshealth.org
Kaiser Permanente Media Contact: Rodger Dougherty
Phone: 619-528-7783
E-mail: rodger.w.dougherty@kp.org
Scripps Green Hospital, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, Heart Care, Heart Care (Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla)
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