UCSF Health Welcomes St. Mary’s and Saint Francis Hospitals
Integration moves forward as UCSF Health expands access to care for the San Francisco community.
UCSF Health welcomed 1,800 teammates and community physicians from two historic San Francisco hospitals today as they officially joined the health system.
“This is an exciting day and an exciting opportunity to build a more equitable, accessible system of care for all patients in our community,” said Shay Strachan, interim president of the UCSF Health Affiliates Network, who will have executive oversight over the two hospitals. “We’re proud of our shared commitment to the people of San Francisco and proud to welcome these new teammates to the UCSF Health community.”
UCSF Health Saint Francis and UCSF Health St. Mary’s hospitals will maintain their existing services, ensuring patients have convenient local access for their primary and specialty care needs. UCSF Health has also committed to retention of the employees of both hospitals. Preserving these historic hospitals will keep patients connected with their community physicians and maintain vital services like the Bothin Burn Center, the Gender Institute, the McAuley Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, and the Sister Mary Philippa Health Center.
“We are excited to be able to preserve these critical services for the City of San Francisco,” said Suresh Gunasekaran, president and chief executive officer of UCSF Health. “We’re investing in these hospitals and the people who work there so that our communities can continue to rely on them for excellent and accessible, everyday health care.”
Investment in San Francisco
The organization will make an immediate investment of $100 million to support the complex work of integrating the two hospitals. Over the next two years, UCSF Health will embark on a thoughtful, people-centered approach to integrate St. Mary’s and Saint Francis hospitals.
Patients who currently receive care at Saint Francis, St. Mary’s and associated clinics may notice some changes to signage and branding, but most importantly, their relationship with their care teams will not change. At this time, all Saint Francis and St. Mary's patients will continue to access services just as they do today at the same locations, through the same telephone numbers, and using the same digital health tools. Patients will be able to continue to receive primary and specialty care from their current providers.
We’re investing in these hospitals and the people who work there so that our communities can continue to rely on them for excellent and accessible, everyday health care.
Suresh GunasekaranPresident and Chief Executive Officer, UCSF Health
“Our No. 1 goal,” Gunasekaran said, “is to maintain safe, high-quality care for the San Francisco community.”
The acquisition includes an expected $430 million investment into the two hospitals, enabling both hospitals to expand the number of patients they see, while upgrading critical technology systems and improving physical facilities. The initial investment will focus on modernizing the electronic health records and other technology, as well as physical infrastructure.
Sustaining community benefits
It is also a major step in addressing the capacity challenges UCSF Health has seen in recent years, enabling more patients to access excellent care by bringing additional emergency departments, hospital beds, operating rooms, clinical rooms and vital, complementary services to the UCSF Health system.
Earlier this year, UCSF Health affirmed its intention to maintain or expand current service levels and staffing at both Saint Francis and St. Mary’s, ensuring patients have convenient local access for their primary and specialty care needs, including care covered by Medi-Cal and Medicare. The agreement committed to retaining the employees of both hospitals and preserving their open medical staffs, enabling local doctors to continue to practice at each location and patients to continue to see providers they know.
As part of the integration, the hospitals will no longer have any religious affiliation and patients will have access to the full range of evidence-based care provided at UCSF Health, including reproductive health.
UCSF Health also has committed to maintaining the community benefits that these historic hospitals have long provided. These commitments include an estimated $10 million in annual charity care between the two hospitals and annual combined community benefit spendings of at least $12.3 million, with annual increases of 2.4% for both charity care and community benefit at both hospitals.
About UCSF Health: UCSF Health is recognized worldwide for its innovative patient care, reflecting the latest medical knowledge, advanced technologies and pioneering research. It includes the flagship UCSF Medical Center, which is a top-ranked hospital, as well as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland; Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians; and the UCSF Faculty Practice. These hospitals serve as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco, which is world-renowned for its graduate-level health sciences education and biomedical research. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area.