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"We've planned these moves like a chess game," says LAC+USC CEO PeteDelgado. "No medical services will be disrupted during the phased moves. Ourplan is to have all hospital services, including the operating rooms and theemergency department, ready for service in their new locations October 17th."
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The moves are the closing steps of a process that began in 2003, inrecognition of the need for cutting-edge health care in the East L.A.community. The new hospital is a $1 billion investment in meeting the healthneeds of the community. "The new hospital will provide state-of-the-art carein the heart of a community that direly needs it and most certainly willappreciate it," said L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina.
To ensure that all county residents with and without healthcare coveragereceive the care they need, LAC+USC works closely in partnership with TheCamino de Salud Network, an integrated public-private healthcare deliverynetwork, managed by COPE Health Solutions and consisting of the LAC+USCHealthcare Network and nonprofit community clinics. The Network coordinateshospital services and community-based ambulatory care to ensure that patientsreceive "access to the right care, at the right place, at the right time."Visit http://www.lacusc.org/CaminoDeSalud for more information.
The hospital is completely dedicated to providing all levels of medicalcare, Delgado maintains. "The Camino de Salud Network is where people shouldgo for primary care services, so we can use the new hospital the right way.Patients who often face long waits in the emergency room-which is sometimestheir only means of receiving care-can now work with a care manager in theircommunity clinic to coordinate their needs. They can get the diagnostics, thetreatments, and the support they need in their local community."
Among the largest teaching hospitals in the country, LAC+USC has been apartner with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of SouthernCalifornia since 1885. Staffed by more than 500 full-time faculty of the KeckSchool of Medicine and approximately 900 medical residents, LAC+USC currentlyadmits more than 40,000 inpatients and handles nearly 200,000 emergencydepartment visits and 1 million ambulatory care visits each year. The medicalcenter provides major regional and community emergency trauma and criticalcare services among other clinical care activities.
"We are enormously proud of the clinical contributions of our USC faculty,residents, and medical students in the outstanding care of the people of LosAngeles County," says Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of the Keck School of Medicineof USC. "While the facilities are new, the tradition of exceptional patientcare will continue."
To mark the occasion, LAC+USC is planning a series of celebrations inpartnership with Supervisor Molina. A community celebration will be held onOctober 4, including the official ribbon-cutting and hospital tours.
SOURCE Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center
