Board Pushes Forward with Plan to Expand County Hospital

Photo courtesy of the Riverside County Regional Medical Center

By City News Service

The Board of Supervisors on Wednesday inaugurated plans for a major expansion of Riverside County Regional Medical Center, envisioning a 30- acre complex that would draw patients from throughout the region for treatment by a range of specialists.

“We have providers who want that space,” county Chief Executive Officer Jay Orr told the board. “Skilled nursing facilities are in demand, as well as orthopedic rehabilitation and long-term care facilities. There’s a place for hospitality (vendors) on-site.

“This is a win-win for the regional economy,” he said. “Coming forward with this is a win for our health system and will bring change in how we make money (through healthcare services).”

Board Chairman Marion Ashley and Supervisor John Tavaglione brought forward the “medical campus” proposal, under which the county will engage in negotiations with Dallas-based commercial real estate developer Trammell Crow and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians for master-planning of what will be officially designated the Riverside University Health System Medical Center.

“We need to do this to build our integrated health system around us,” Ashley said. “We can be the center of gravity for healthcare delivery in the county.”

Tavaglione said “visionary proposals” have been introduced that will ensure “we have a very nice campus, providing amenities for patients and families.”

“We’ll also be able to attract new doctors,” he said.

The county medical center has undergone a two-year turnaround, peeling away tens of millions of dollars in debt, reforming labor practices, upgrading its rate scheme and adopting a new name -- the university health system -- under the guidance of healthcare consultants hired at a contract price of nearly $30 million.

Orr and hospital CEO Zareh Sarrafian have both pointed to the need to ramp up the medical center’s revenue-generating capacity, moving away from a healthcare system oriented largely to the indigent and instead attracting more patients with private insurance.

“We have to have plans in place,” Orr told the board. “We have to have providers in a network so they can refer patients to our (hospital) beds and specialists. You have to have networks providing medicine. An isolated hospital doesn’t work anymore.”

The proposal, unanimously approved by the supervisors, foresees erecting office buildings and labs within the 30-acre space surrounding the Moreno Valley hospital, in the area of Brodiaea and Cactus avenues, all of which is county-owned land.

The board did not commit any funding, but did authorize Economic Development Agency staff to proceed with negotiating real estate development agreements involving the Morongo tribe and Trammell Crow.

The board separately approved a partnership with Loma Linda University Medical Center to design and implement a shared electronic records platform that would improve the continuum of care for patients within the Riverside University Health System.

Loma Linda and the UC Riverside School of Medicine previously entered into compacts with the county aimed at improving healthcare access and quality.

The records platform would animate the concept of a “one patient-one medical record” within a clinical integrated network that connects participating patients to a host of physicians relying on a “single source of data to measure the effectiveness and cost of care,” according to an Executive Office statement.

An initial $500,000 was appropriated for the project, but county officials estimate the total price tag could approach $53.1 million over three years.

All future appropriations requests will have to be individually approved by the board.