UC San Diego Health System and the City of El Centro are entering into an agreement to expand health care services to Imperial Valley, the university announced.
The deal was made on behalf of El Centro Regional Medical Center, the city-owned hospital in El Centro.
The management services agreement will launch with a comprehensive assessment of the El Centro hospital’s operational and clinical needs, conducted by UC San Diego Health System.
The health systems will collaborate to provide clinical team members with access to joint research projects and educational opportunities, such as continuing medical education through the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
If needed, patients of El Centro Regional Medical Center will have direct access to highly specialized and advanced diagnostic, imaging, surgical, oncologic and cardiac services typically only found in academic health centers.
UC San Diego Health System currently supports the Imperial Valley by providing some cardiac and trauma care, along with other specialty care services. Future areas of specialty support will include endocrinology, allergy and immunology, cardiology, rheumatology, and nephrology.
The relationship between UC San Diego Health System and El Centro Regional Medical Center follows the recent affiliation of Imperial Valley Family Care Medical Group with the UC San Diego Health Physician Network.
The collaboration was officially launched on May 5.
UC San Diego Health System also is pursuing a collaboration with Eisenhower Medical Center in the Coachella Valley.
The proposed partnership could potentially lead to the expansion of the Rancho Mirage hospital into a teaching and research hospital.
The deal is still being negotiated, but the hospital’s management team has met with the university's leadership and the hospital’s board approved signing a letter of intent that would move it toward a clinical affiliation for medical services.
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