Two area children’s hospitals — UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, part of UCLA Health, and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, part of MemorialCare Health System — Thursday announced a “strategic affiliation” of their resources and academic, clinical and research expertise.
According to a jointly issued statement, the alliance of the two organizations is focused on “growing pediatric specialty care and the network of pediatricians and pediatric specialists available in the community, adding more outpatient facilities, expanding efforts to manage the health of children, and addressing other opportunities that offer families easier access to highly specialized children’s health services.”
In partnership with UC Irvine Health, the organizations intend to collaboratively expand their pediatric residency and medical education programs, which includes residency rotations for pediatric experiences in related medical and surgical specialties, as well as the establishment of medical and surgical fellowship training programs.
UC Irvine Health and Miller Children’s long-standing pediatric residency and teaching relationship will continue and be integrated into the pediatric collaboration.
“We are extremely pleased at the opportunity to work with Miller Children’s leadership, physicians and staff to expand access to care to more children throughout Southern California,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of UCLA Hospital System. “This pediatric collaboration will enhance our ability to deliver the right care at the right time for all patients.”
John Bishop, CEO of Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, Long Beach Memorial and Community Hospital Long Beach, said: “Through this collaboration, we’ll expand our ability to provide an even wider range of specialized medical care and tap the resources of UCLA, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. In turn, UCLA Mattel will have access to our exceptional physicians and programs. It’s a win-win for children and families in our communities.”
The organizations are among a small number of health care providers nationwide with children’s and women’s as well as adult hospitals on the same campus.
UCLA Mattel is on the UCLA campus with sister facilities Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. Miller Children’s shares a campus with Long Beach Memorial, a major teaching hospital.
The two children’s hospitals already have a hematology/oncology cancer partnership at Miller Children’s.
–City News Service