SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — UC San Diego Health has ended negotiations in a nearly $32 million deal with the county of San Diego to create a behavioral health care services hub for the region at its new East Campus Medical Center.
The pact, which was billed as an “innovative partnership” to address a vital need in the county in a previous statement from UCSD, would have added 30 psychiatric inpatient beds for adult Medi-Cal patients to the county’s portfolio and a potential crisis stabilization unit.
The Board of Supervisors approved funding for the partnership in a 4-0 vote back in September, following years of work with the health care provider to ink a deal that would help close the region’s shortfall in acute-care beds.
In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for UCSD Health said it would still be moving forward with a renovation of the medical center to centralize behavioral health care for their patients, as well as operate 30 psychiatrics inpatient beds that already exist at the facility.
Renovation at the medical center — the old Alvarado Hospital in College Area, which UCSD bought back in 2023 — is expected to begin in a little over a year.
“UC San Diego Health remains hopeful and open to future partnership opportunities to expand critical psychiatric services. Partnerships with community, state and federal agencies are essential to protect and care for these vulnerable populations,” the spokesperson continued.
In a statement Monday, Tammy Glenn, a spokesperson for the county, said it was “disappointed” the end of negotiations with UCSD Health on implementing the previously-discussed plans for the partnership on behavioral health care services at East Campus Medical Center.
However, Glenn added the county appreciates the healthcare provider’s “collaboration and expect[s] to continue to work with UC San Diego Health in the future.”
No reason has been provided for why the university health care system and the county ended their negotiations to implement the deal.
UCSD Health’s existing emergency psychiatric services at its Hillcrest hospital and La Jolla Medical Center will be unimpacted by the move.
