UCSF Plans Call for Rebuilding Part of Parnassus Heights Facility, Establishing Specialty Hospitals at Mission Bay
The University of California-San Francisco will maintain and rebuild part of its Parnassus Heights medical center and open three smaller specialty hospitals at its Mission Bay campus, according to plans announced Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The plans also call for the conversion of Mount Zion Hospital to a daytime clinic.
UCSF's "'split-campus' strategy" calls for a new, eight-story Pavilion facility to replace the 49-year-old Moffitt wing of its Parnassus Heights hospital. According to the Chronicle, the plans adhere to a 1976 agreement that limits the amount of space the hospital can occupy at Parnassus Heights.
UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret said the Parnassus Heights emergency department would remain open until the new facility opens. The facility, which would cost at least $500 million, is expected to open in 2018 at the earliest, according to the Chronicle.
A 3-in-1 specialty hospital that includes children's, women's and cancer hospitals would be built at Mission Bay at a cost of about $750 million, $250 million of which Laret said would be funded by donations.
According to the plans, Mount Zion would be converted to a daytime ambulatory surgery clinic because the building meets the state seismic retrofit regulations for daytime clinics but not for hospital facilities that house patients overnight. Mount Zion would continue to operate as a cancer research center and would continue to offer daytime treatment, but many of the functions performed there would be shifted to the Mission Bay complex.
One issue facing UCSF at Mission Bay is that the 302-acre complex is not zoned for hospitals. The hospital has requested an additional 14 acres of the development for its medical centers, which if approved, would be exempt from property tax that otherwise would have be used to finance subsidized housing.
Marcia Rosen, executive director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, said the agency and other city government offices were working to address issues that the hospital's plans raised. She indicated that the issues could be resolved through negotiations, the Chronicle reports.
UCSF plans to present the proposal to the UC Board of Regents in January. UCSF also will hold a series of town meetings to present the plan to its employees and city residents.
UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health continue to discuss the possibility of co-locating a new San Francisco General Hospital near the UCSF's Mission Bay center as the 2013 seismic safety standards deadline approaches, but the concept "faces multiple hurdles," the Chronicle reports (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/2).
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