Irvine is Becoming a Healthcare Powerhouse
This rendering shows City of Hope’s newest project, currently under construction in Irvine. It will be Orange County’s only hospital exclusively dedicated to treating and curing cancer and is one of three massive health care campuses being built in Irvine. Image credit City of Hope
If you look up the top 20 cities for healthcare, Irvine doesn’t even make the list. But that may be about to change. Three large hospital systems have broken ground, literally and figuratively, in constructing sprawling state-of-the-art healthcare facilities in Irvine.
City of Hope
After opening its outpatient center last August, construction is now underway on City of Hope’s new $1.5 billion inpatient facility. The first of its kind in Orange County, City of Hope’s cancer specialty hospital will have a capacity of 73 inpatient beds. City of Hope did extensive research on Orange County to determine the cancers that had the greatest need before choosing specialists in gynecology, hematology-oncology, dermatology, breast cancer, and bone marrow to staff the hospital. The 160,000 square foot, six story hospital is slated to open its doors in 2025.
“City of Hope is here to meet the needs of this amazing community,” said Annette M. Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County, “by alleviating the need for patients to leave Orange County for advanced cancer services.”
Hoag
This March Hoag announced a gift of $50 million from philanthropists David and Diana Sun to expand Hoag’s Irvine campus. Also aiming to complete construction in 2025, the expansion will feature six new buildings incorporating 155 inpatient beds, eight operating rooms, and two additional procedure rooms. Expanded facilities will enable Hoag to focus on surgical innovation, cancer, and digestive and women’s health, in addition to dedicated urgent care services for cancer patients.
UCI
The new UCI Health healthcare campus will complement the flagship UCI Medical Center in Orange. UCI Medical Center - Irvine will become UCI’s home for the Center for Children’s Health, wellness programs, urgent and emergency care, specialty disciplines, research and clinical trials, and lifesaving surgical and acute care. UCI Medical Center-Irvine is also expected to contribute to the local economy by creating upward of 2,500 healthcare and construction jobs, attracting out-of-area healthcare professionals and patients to the region, and providing vendor and partnership opportunities for Orange County-based businesses.
Late last year, UCI announced a $7.25 million dollar donation from Laura Khouri and Michael K. Hayde. Their contribution will provide $4 million for the construction of the UCI Health-Irvine medical complex, $2.25 million for the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, and $1 million to create the “Laura Khouri and Michael K. Hayde CareConnect Endowment” to support the expansion of patient services at the UCI Health-Irvine medical campus.
The $1.3 billion campus is under construction and is expected to be completed by 2025.