Newport Beach-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is planning a three-story medical center with 60,000 square feet at a mixed-use development in Tustin—the latest in a recently developed concept that pushes the delivery of healthcare beyond its traditional inpatient settings.
The latest Hoag Health Center would be part of the Village at Tustin Legacy, a residential and commercial project on the former U.S. Marine base in the city. The center will join ones Hoag has in operation in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Aliso Viejo, Newport Beach, and Irvine, as well as another under development in Irvine.
“The proposed facility will include uses such as doctors’ offices and associated medical services such as urgent care, pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, specialty medicine, laboratory, outpatient procedures and physical and occupational therapy,” according to a report from the city of Tustin’s Community Development Department.
Hoag spokesperson Heidi Pallares said the project still requires approval from the city council in Tustin.
Hoag, like other hospital operators around the U.S., has made an effort to expand beyond traditional models of delivery of care in the wake of healthcare reform and technology evolution.
Another example of the trend came in 2010 when it teamed up with a pair of orthopedic doctors’ groups in a joint venture to advance orthopedic healthcare by creating the Hoag Orthopedic Institute. The institute leases space from Hoag Hospital Irvine and was the subject of a Harvard University School of Business case study on hospital operations in the age of healthcare reform.
The Hoag Health Center Irvine is expected to open across the street from the orthopedic center at Sand Canyon Avenue and Alton Parkway next spring. The center will have three 50,000-square-foot buildings and offer a range of services, most of which are done in outpatient settings.
‘Hoag-Branded’
“We’ve listened to [the community], and it’s obvious that they want more of Hoag—they want more of Hoag-branded services in this ZIP code,” Marcy Brown, executive director of Hoag Irvine, said in an interview with the Business Journal earlier this year.
Irvine residents “don’t want to have to travel down the 55 [Costa Mesa Freeway] to have access to Hoag-branded specialists, Hoag-branded cancer care, Hoag-branded outpatient surgery. So that’s our strategic plan,” Brown said.
Hoag teamed up with Irvine-based Catholic hospital operator St. Joseph Health in 2012 to create a regional integrated delivery company now known as St. Joseph Hoag Health.
St. Joseph Hoag Health, among other things, has made a push into wellness, opening a total of four wellness centers at businesses, office buildings and apartment complexes in Irvine.
Separate Entity
The health center proposed for the Village at Tustin Legacy could have a separate, three-story acute care and rehabilitation facility as a neighbor, according to documents from the Tustin Community Development Department.
Plans for the proposed facility include 75,000 square feet and an estimated 80 beds, with areas for treatment, administration and general patient support.
No operator has been identified yet for the facility, which would be “intended to serve medical patients who no longer need general hospital services but still require monitoring and/or regular rehabilitation therapy,” the department said.
A description of the project that accompanied a request for a conditional use permit by developer Tustin Legacy LLC gives more detail about the operations and use of the facility.
Its purpose “is intended to fill the continuum of care need of the community,” and the project description specifically mentioned acute rehabilitation as a possible use.
“Acute rehabilitation [facilities] would typically admit patients who require overnight care but no longer require the type of care provided by a hospital,” Tustin Legacy LLC said in the description.
Patients who require acute rehabilitation typically come to such facilities on a nonemergency basis and return to their homes after their stay is done.
The report notes that 75% of acute rehabilitation patients stay for three months or less, with an average of 20 days.
Acute rehabilitation facilities are regulated by the state Department of Health Services, Tustin Legacy LLC’s report said.
The report noted that such facilities obtain building permits through the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
