UC San Diego Health and San Diego County Partner on Behavioral Health Care Hub

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UC San Diego Health and San Diego County announced they will be finalizing an innovative partnership today during the Board of Supervisors meeting that will expand essential behavioral health care services at East Campus Medical Center to serve urgent mental health needs in east San Diego County and beyond.

The new behavioral health care hub will include 30 additional psychiatric inpatient beds for adult Medi-Cal patients and a potential crisis stabilization unit (CSU) at East Campus Medical Center (formerly Alvarado Hospital), which UC San Diego Health purchased in December 2023. As part of the expansion of its care network, and in coordination with the county, UC San Diego Health will shape the development of a centralized mental health services hub at its newest hospital location.

“The partnership is a tremendous achievement to assist those in our community who are suffering with severe mental health issues,” said Patty Maysent, CEO, UC San Diego Health, with a nod of gratitude to County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, County Chairwoman Nora Vargas and the rest of the County Board of Supervisors, including Ebony Shelton, the county’s Chief Administrative Officer. “We are thankful for this partnership with the County of San Diego, and we are proud to be part of a regional, innovative solution that will help care for patients who have complex behavioral health needs.”

The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed today that final negotiations of the partnership will be completed by October 21 with the agreement closing on October 31, pending board approval.

In San Diego County, one in 20 people are currently living with a serious mental illness, and that rate increases to one in 13 people who live in low-income households, according to San Diego County data. Patients enrolled in Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid health care program that assists children and adults with limited income and resources, can face additional barriers to behavioral health treatment, reflecting socioeconomic disparities and increasing the importance of establishing medical treatment options for vulnerable populations.

UC San Diego Health has been working with San Diego County to develop a comprehensive behavioral health solution for the region since 2018. East Campus Medical Center will serve as the health system’s new centralized hub for UC San Diego Health psychiatric services once the additional 30 psychiatric inpatient services beds are added to the dedicated behavioral health patient care tower.

Supervisor Montgomery Steppe first introduced the item in May 2024, when initial board action was taken. San Diego County and UC San Diego Health will work together to determine the feasibility of a CSU at East Campus Medical Center. CSU services can improve access to critical inpatient care and provide a gateway to outpatient services for vulnerable adults who are experiencing behavioral health crises. These services have been shown to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations by diverting patients from emergency departments and inpatient care, stabilizing them, and connecting them to the community-based behavioral health services they can rely on for ongoing care.

Expanded behavioral health services at East Campus Medical Center are planned to be fully functional as soon as 2026, if approvals and funding allocations move forward as expected. UC San Diego Health will continue to operate emergency psychiatric services at both Hillcrest and La Jolla medical center campuses after completion of the new hub. The county will continue to operate its emergency psychiatric services and inpatient units at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital.

“This enhanced behavioral health services model is an emphatic response to the regional shortage of acute psychiatric beds, freeing up capacity in other medical units to handle rising emergency demands,” said Jeff Daskalakis, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and psychiatrist at UC San Diego Health. “It will also strengthen the continuum of care for our most vulnerable community members.”