UCSF launches public process as it plans replacement of UCSF medical center facilities

UCSF officials will meet this month with members of the campus community and public to discuss the future of UCSF Medical Center inpatient facilities, which must be largely replaced to meet the growing demand for specialized care and upcoming deadlines for state-mandated seismic safety standards.

Public meetings are scheduled for:
Date & time: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday May 6, 2003
Location: 500 Parnassus in the UCSF Millberry Conference Center
Date & time: 7:00 p.m., Wednesday May 14, 2003
Location: UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, UCSF Genentech Hall - 600 16th Street
Date & time: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Location: 2340 Sutter Street (@ Divisadero) in the Lurie Conference Room

The 526-bed UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus Heights currently includes two adjoining hospital buildings - Moffitt, built in 1955 and Long, built in 1982. Because these buildings will not meet future operational needs, and to ensure that UCSF’s facilities continue to meet increasingly stringent state-mandated earthquake safety standards, UCSF has begun evaluating options for building replacement facilities.

Guided by faculty, staff, and community representatives, planners have identified a number of scenarios in which the University could construct modern facilities in the city. Each option will be intensively scrutinized in a process that promises to reshape the delivery of health care in Northern California.

“We are pleased to be taking important steps forward in serving the health care needs of our community,” said Bruce Spaulding, vice chancellor for university advancement and planning. “UCSF Medical Center is an important contributor both to the Bay Area’s economy and to its quality of life.”

Plan To Be Implemented In Phases
The campus estimates that 650 beds are necessary to accommodate patients seeking care at UCSF Medical Center. Because of the magnitude of the project, it is likely that the plan will be implemented in phases, said Spaulding. The first phase, which is planned for construction in the next ten years, is likely to be a specialty hospital with 250 beds. While no plans are definite, the leading candidate for this specialty hospital is a UCSF Children’s Hospital and Center for Mothers and Newborns, perhaps to be located at Mission Bay.

The next phase would likely involve the construction of a 400-bed hospital to replace the existing hospital on Parnassus - to be built in time to meet increased state seismic standards in 2030. Planning is underway to determine whether the second phase should include building a 400-bed hospital on Parnassus or building a new facility at Mission Bay, said Spaulding. Other scenarios being considered include splitting the 650 beds between Parnassus and Mission Bay or ultimately locating all 650 beds at Mission Bay.

Spaulding noted that the current Medical Center site at Parnassus Heights is being appropriately upgraded to meet current seismic standards, so it can continue to operate until 2030.

The Long Range Development Plan
Because of the scope of the project and the potential impact on all UCSF sites, the decision requires a major amendment to the campus Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), approved in 1997 by the UC Board of Regents.

The current long-range plan, which resulted in selection of Mission Bay as a second major teaching and research site for the campus, involved a comprehensive planning process including extensive community participation, neighborhood workshops, exchanges among faculty, staff, and community committees, and preparation of an Environmental Impact Report. 

The current hospital planning effort depends on a similar process, and the amended LRDP will require approval by the Regents. The university hopes to submit an amended LRDP to the UC Board of Regents early in 2004.

“As an academic teaching hospital, the Medical Center serves many different constituencies locally, regionally, nationally and even internationally. These include our community members, patients, referring physicians, university faculty physicians, resident physicians in training, nurses, and all other staff members,” said Mark Laret, CEO of the UCSF Medical Center. “We’re making every effort to ensure that all their voices are heard.

Planning Process Has Identified Four Potential Locations
The planning process has identified four potential locations at which to construct new facilities. They are:
· Parnassus East: The area adjoining and incorporating the current location of the UCSF Medical Center.
· Parnassus West: The western edge of the UCSF main campus, at the opposite end of Parnassus Avenue from the current UCSF Medical Center.

· Mission Bay North: The northern edge of UCSF’s new campus site at Mission Bay, bounded by Owens Street, Mission Bay Boulevard South, and Third Street.
· Mission Bay South: A parcel adjacent to the southern edge of UCSF Mission Bay, on the south side of 16th Street. This is the only location that has the capacity for 650 beds.
Scenarios involving building a 250-bed hospital at UCSF’s Mount Zion campus have been set aside for now, pending review of the other four locations.

Construction of a replacement hospital at Mission Bay South would oblige the university to acquire additional land. UCSF officials have held exploratory discussions with Catellus Development Corporation regarding the acquisition of about 10 acres for the Mission Bay South site.

Since the parcel is part of a redevelopment area, university officials also have met with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to clarify issues surrounding a potential acquisition. Discussions with both parties are ongoing.
Overall, each hospital-replacement strategy - that is, each potential combination of buildings and land—is being evaluated according to a complex set of criteria that weigh its ability to support UCSF’s teaching mission and service to the community, the physical characteristics of the location, and the financial impact on the university. Participating in this effort is the University’s Community Advisory Group (CAG), a diverse group of neighborhood, labor, ethnic, and business leaders with an active interest in UCSF’s role in the neighborhoods and the wider San Francisco area.

Members have long played an instrumental role in the LRDP process. Twelve CAG members sit on the CAG action team on hospital replacement, which has been meeting regularly to provide guidance on community issues related to each of the medical center replacement scenarios.

Planning Began in 2001
In January 2001, a campus hospital replacement committee, chaired by Spaulding and Laret, concluded that the campus should build a new hospital, rather than attempting to retrofit the existing facilities.

“In order to realize the academic, functional and operational potential of UCSF, the Moffitt and Long [buildings] need to be replaced,” the committee concluded in its report submitted to Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD.
Bishop subsequently appointed a faculty committee to discuss replacement of the hospital with an eye toward the future needs of the entire multi-site campus and to guide the LRDP amendment process. 

Chaired by Craig Van Dyke, MD, professor and chair of psychiatry, the committee continues to work in a process that includes environmental impact studies, public hearings, and discussions with the University’s CAG.
Detailed plans for UCSF Medical Center were not incorporated into the 1997 LRDP because, during the process, UCSF Medical Center began merger discussions with Stanford University Health Systems in which operational control of the clinical enterprise ultimately transferred to the new corporation in November 1997. 

With the dissolution of the UCSF-Stanford merger, the responsibility for hospital management and planning returned to the campus.

For more information, please visit www.ucsf.edu/community/hrp/ or contact UCSF Community and Governmental Relations at 415-476-3206 or [email protected].
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NOTE TO THE MEDIA:  Reporters are invited to attend public meetings on May 6, 14, 20 to hear about the planning efforts. For more information contact Maureen McInaney at 415-476-2557.     

Tuesday May 6, 2003 at 500 Parnassus in the UCSF Millberry Conference Center, 7:00 p.m. (Accessible via MUNI lines 6, 43, 66, N-Judah. The UCSF public parking garage will offer a $3 rate for this meeting.)
Wednesday May 14, 2003 at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, UCSF Genentech Hall - 600 16th Street, 7:00 p.m. (Accessible via MUNI #15 to 16th and Mississippi Streets. Special UCSF Shuttles: Leaving 401 Parnassus at 6:25pm; leaving 4th and Market next to Old Navy at 6:30 pm; leaving 16th and Mission next to Payless Shoes at 6:35 pm. Parking-enter off 16th Street, east of the building).

Tuesday May 20, 2003 at 2340 Sutter Street (@ Divisadero) in the Lurie Conference Room, 7:00 p.m. (Accessible via MUNI lines 2, 4 and 24).

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