Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is spending more than $20 million to open a 20,000-square-foot state-of-the-art health center this summer in San Clemente after identifying the community as one of the areas of greatest need in Orange County, Chief Executive Robert Braithwaite told the Business Journal.
Hoag Health Center San Clemente, slated to open in July, will offer primary care, urgent care, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedic and sports medicine, radiology and imaging, along with more services to be announced.
“When Saddleback Memorial closed nine years ago, we saw a migration of physicians that left, then had a number of physicians also retire in that area,” Braithwaite said. “We saw a lot of San Clemente folks in San Juan that were moving north for their healthcare, so Hoag decided to develop some services that the community needed down here in San Clemente.”
The expansion is part of the hospital’s larger goal of having a Hoag facility within 10 minutes of every household, according to Braithwaite.
Newport Beach-based Hoag is the second largest hospital in Orange County (see page 24). It joins other local healthcare institutions that are expanding down south as well.
Providence Mission Hospital, the seventh largest in Orange County, is planning to spend $712 million over the next six years to expand its South Orange County operations.
Providence is building two new multi-specialty medical centers, as well as a patient care tower with roughly 100 beds, in San Clemente and Rancho Mission Viejo.
Both are scheduled to open this year.
Surveyed 300 Community Members for Input
On top of looking at county and statewide data, Braithwaite said that Hoag conducted over 300 interviews with local residents, businesses and community leaders to learn what health needs they were seeking.
“We do things that they want and need, so then it really becomes their health center,” Braithwaite said.
Braithwaite knew firsthand that the community lacked proper healthcare services as a San Clemente resident himself.
“When we went down there, a lot of people were asking almost every day who should they go see, and, oftentimes, we were making referrals all the way up to Irvine or Newport Beach,” Braithwaite said.
The hiring process is well underway for the new “state-of-the-art” healthcare facility with about a third of the physicians already recruited for the location, including two primary care physicians and three OBGYNs.
Hoag plans to bring in a combination of long-term employees and outside physicians.
One physician Hoag recruited for the center is Dr. Michael Hunter, an orthopedic surgeon who has been at Hoag for six years and is migrating his Irvine practice to San Clemente. Another is a current chief resident in medical school in Philadelphia.
“He’s coming home to the place he grew up in to care for his family and friends, so a lot of them have either a deep affinity to the community or they’re from Orange County in some way, shape or form,” Braithwaite said.
Hoag expects to have between 20 and 25 total physicians at the center once it’s fully up and running.
They are still looking to hire an urgent care doctor, radiologist, a nurse midwife and other specialists in the coming months.
Brand-Name Retail Partners
Hoag plans to incorporate elements of its Foothill Ranch facility in the new San Clemente center.
Like San Clemente, Foothill Ranch didn’t have good access to healthcare, according to Braithwaite.
When Hoag opened Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch in 2020, the hospital’s board of directors challenged officials to “think about healthcare on a broader continuum,” he said.
They decided to bring in strong elements of wellness into the center, breaking the traditional model of patients simply coming in, getting diagnosed, receiving treatment and leaving.
“They want something beyond the exam room,” Braithwaite said.
Consumer wellness brands are displayed within the center, appealing to patients who want more out of their healthcare journey than just a doctor’s visit, Braithwaite said.
There are Los Angeles Chargers-branded products next to the sports medicine and physical rehab rooms, as well as retail nooks featuring Lululemon and Campo Beauty.
Braithwaite believes this model will be an “evolutionary” twist to healthcare, especially for younger patients seeking a more well-rounded experience.
“It has a really different feel than your traditional medical office building,” he said. “It feels healthy.”
The San Clemente center will also have wellness brands incorporated into the facility.
Additionally, there are plans for an outside exercise studio for yoga, pilates and AI-powered fitness equipment.
Prime Location
Hoag Health Center San Clemente will be located at the Plaza Pacifica shopping center.
Braithwaite referred to the two streets it’s on as “two major arteries within the San Clemente geography” and a convenient spot for a health center.
The center is replacing the former Office Depot.
One of the most difficult challenges was finding a big enough space in San Clemente for the health center, Braithwaite said.
He said that it took Hoag nearly two years to find the current location.
More real estate is becoming available with big box retailers adapting to changing consumer habits and economic conditions by closing underperforming stores, according to Braithwaite.
“I think healthcare institutions are going to have opportunities as long as they can find the right size space,” Braithwaite said.
Braithwaite anticipates that the San Clemente location will be a good starting space until the center grows out of it and needs a larger space in the future.
Hoag Brings Back At-Home Doctor’s Visits
Doctors making house calls feel reminiscent of a bygone era.
It evokes the old 1970s TV series “Marcus Welby” that was about a family physician who made house calls and was on a first-name basis with all of his patients.
That has now come full circle with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian introducing its Hoag at Home program.
Hoag launched the program in 2021 to meet the anticipated needs of an aging population in Orange County.
“More people need that, especially people that are housebound or have family living out of state,” Chief Executive Robert Braithwaite told the Business Journal.
Hoag At Home offers a range of services including physical therapy, hospice care and a 24/7 nursing advice line.
The program is an “amazing success story” for Hoag and has become the largest home-based healthcare platform in Orange County, according to Braithwaite.
With the improvement of technology, he sees programs like Hoag at Home eventually being capable of providing critical care-level services for conditions such as pneumonia and congestive heart failure from home.
Hoag’s at-home services are currently available in the following cities in Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and Tustin.
—Yuika Yoshida
