ValleyCare Health System and UCSF have signed a letter of intent to enhance health care services for women and children in the Tri-Valley region of the East Bay.
The goal of the collaboration is both to expand regional access to high-quality perinatal and pediatric care and to broaden the availability of specialty services.
Under the terms of the letter of intent, the two organizations began working together July 1 on a long-term ?shared vision? that outlines roles and responsibilities of each party during a three-phase plan to expand patient care services.
Medical services provided through the collaboration will build on the combined strengths of UCSF tertiary clinical expertise and VCHS community resources, with an overriding focus on providing excellent care close to home.
?We are very excited about this affiliation,? said Marcy Feit, president and chief executive office of ValleyCare Health System. ?As the Tri-Valley continues to grow and ValleyCare serves more and more patients, we need to respond to that need. Aligning with such an outstanding organization as UCSF helps us serve the people of our community at a level they have come to expect.?
The collaboration marks the first time that UCSF is bringing together such a comprehensive aggregate of health care services at a facility outside UCSF, according to Mark Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center. ?UCSF views this relationship with ValleyCare as a bellwether example of how academic medical centers can coordinate care with a community hospital,? he added.
In the first phase of the agreement, UCSF will provide or arrange for inpatient pediatric hospitalist and neonatology coverage at ValleyCare?s Pleasanton campus. These services will be phased in during the next six months in coordination with ValleyCare?s medical staff.
On an outpatient basis during the first phase, UCSF will provide medical staff for new pediatric sub-specialty services, including pulmonary medicine and gastroenterology, as well as support for existing cardiology practices. UCSF also will staff a new perinatology clinic that includes genetic screening and treatment for complex pregnancies.
During the next three to five years, UCSF and ValleyCare envision the construction of a ?hospital within a hospital? to be named UCSF Children?s Hospital at ValleyCare, which would be governed by a board comprised of representatives of both organizations. This new children?s facility would include an expanded pediatric inpatient service and a level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Within the next decade, UCSF and ValleyCare will evaluate the construction of a new pediatric wing that would house all pediatric services, including the NICU, pediatric outpatient surgery and pediatric sub-specialty clinics.
?We see this as a wonderful opportunity to partner with community obstetricians and pediatricians in the Tri-Valley region to provide world-class specialty care to mothers and children right in their own communities,? said Sam Hawgood, MD, medical director of UCSF Children?s Hospital and chair of the UCSF Department of Pediatrics.
?We welcome this initiative to expand services to our community and, at the same time, collaborate with an excellent organization such as UCSF,? said Michael Alper, MD, chief of staff for ValleyCare Health System.