Dignity Health and the University of California: A Legacy of Caring for Californians
Together, Dignity Health and University of California Health centers have been delivering specialized care for decades. Our doctors and health centers share expertise and put critically needed health services within reach for thousands of patients every year. These kinds of partnerships are at the core of California’s public health safety net.
- Together we provide specialty care to communities that would not otherwise be available in areas such as mental health, cancer care, trauma, newborn intensive care, and LGBTQ health.
- Together we bring life-changing medical innovations within reach for more patients including many patients in rural areas.
- Together we coordinate care for at-risk patients so they can get care more quickly, and free up capacity at specialized treatment centers so care is available for patients who need it most.
These are some of the programs made possible because of partnership:
Pediatric Trauma in Southern California
Through a partnership with UCLA Health, specialists provide pediatric trauma services at Northridge Hospital. This is the only program of its kind in the San Fernando Valley, which launched in 2010 because of a community demand for additional pediatric trauma care in the region. This program treated more than 700 patients in FY19.
Adolescent Psychiatry in San Francisco
St. Mary’s Medical Center offers the only inpatient adolescent psychiatry program in San Francisco, which saw more than 1,000 patients in FY19. The hospital’s partnership with UCSF allows medical residents to rotate through the program, offering patients access to more caregivers, and providing a level of specialty training that residents couldn’t get elsewhere.
Cancer Care in the Central Valley
The joint UC Davis-Mercy Merced Cancer Center serves more than 13,000 patients from across the region every year. The center provides access to radiation oncology services and highly specialized care from UC experts. At St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, patients can access cancer clinical trials thanks to a partnership with UCSF. Without these partnerships, this care would not be available.
Inpatient Headache Care in Northern California
The UCSF Health inpatient headache program is housed at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. It is the only program of its kind in Northern California.
HIV Care in San Francisco
An outpatient clinic at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco has been providing care for HIV patients since the early 80s. Thanks to our partnership with UC, a UCSF specialist physician leads the clinic, ensuring that all our patients receive this specialty care.
Download a Fact Sheet about the partnership>>
The Future of These Programs if the Partnerships Are Forced to Close
There is no question that partnerships like these expand access to health care for more Californians. But some are suggesting that the University of California should not partner with faith-based nonprofit organizations like Dignity Health to offer this care.
Ending these partnerships will eliminate access to urgently needed health services for thousands of patients.
At the core of the concern is whether UC physicians are impacted by Dignity Health’s Catholic affiliation when they are practicing in Dignity Health hospitals. Catholic hospitals like Dignity Health’s agree to uphold Catholic values, such as serving the poor. Catholic hospitals also agree not to perform certain services such as elective abortions, elective sterilization, or in-vitro fertilization. These services are not typically performed in hospitals regardless of religious affiliation.
Dignity Health expects all clinicians practicing in its facilities to provide services in accordance with their clinical judgement and the needs and wishes of their patients. Dignity Health also expects all clinicians to inform patients of all of their health care options and transfer a patient to another provider if a certain service is not offered. In recent months, Dignity Health and the University of California have worked to update their contractual arrangements so these expectations are even clearer.
Several respected health care organizations, including the California Medical Association and California Hospital Association, have expressed public support for these partnerships. You can voice your support to continue these vital health programs by submitting comments up until March 16 by contacting the UC Regents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are partnerships important in health care?
Helping people stay healthy requires access to an array of specialized health and social services. No single health system can do this alone—partnerships are the only way to provide access to the full range of needed services in our communities. In fact, partnerships like those between faith-based health providers and public health agencies and academic institutions are extremely common all across the country.
Why is it important for Dignity Health and the UC system to work together?
There are many reasons it’s important for Dignity Health and the UC system to work together, including:
- Patients in rural areas can access care from UC experts through Dignity Health care centers, resulting in specialty services like pediatric trauma, stroke care, and mental health care that wouldn’t otherwise be available.
- Partnerships like these are especially important for low income patients, with Dignity Health and UC serving as the #1 and #2 providers of Medi-Cal services. Not being able to partner and coordinate care for these patients would have a tremendous negative impact on care for those patients.
- Through Dignity Health hospitals, thousands of medical students and residents statewide have access to comprehensive clinical training.
How does Dignity Health complement UC’s services?
In many cases, Dignity Health offers unique services that UC Health currently does not provide, including acute rehabilitation, acute adolescent psychiatry, and burn care. Additionally, many UC Health facilities are nearing capacity. In critical situations, UC has transferred patients to Dignity Health hospitals with the confidence they will receive high-quality, evidence-based care.
How do Dignity Health and UC Health work together?
For decades, Dignity Health and UC Health have worked together to provide specialty medical care, physician training opportunities, and vital health programs. Tens of thousands of patients across the state benefit from these collaborations. Examples include:
- UCLA specialists provide pediatric trauma services at Northridge Hospital—the only program of its kind in the San Fernando Valley.
- San Francisco’s only inpatient headache unit is a UCSF program at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
- The Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center in Merced is a joint venture with UC Davis.
- Cancer patients at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton can access clinical trials thanks to a partnership with UCSF.
- At California Hospital in Los Angeles, up to 1,000 ER patients a year receive critical cardiac care thanks to a partnership with UCLA.
- Behavioral Health services are available at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Sacramento because of a partnership with UC Davis.
- Pediatric telemedicine consultations with UCLA specialists are available to patients in the San Fernando Valley through Northridge Hospital.
- The only radiation oncology treatment center in the San Fernando Valley is a partnership between UCLA and Northridge Hospital.
- A partnership with UCSF helped launch a post-acute behavioral health rehabilitation unit at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco that keeps 56 patients off the streets.
- UCSF residents receive specialized training in pediatric burn care through Northern California’s largest burn unit, located at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.
- Resource and referral services in Sacramento emergency rooms help patients access health care and insurance coverage thanks to a partnership with UC Davis.
- At St. Mary’s Medical Center, UCSF patients can access San Francisco’s only inpatient adolescent psychiatry unit.
- A UCLA partnership allows for biochemical, molecular, and cell biology tests that guide diagnostic and treatment choices in the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach.
- Education programs for thousands of UC medical students and residents at Dignity Health hospitals throughout California.
How does Dignity Health care for LGBTQ+ patients?
Dignity Health proudly serves all patients regardless of their background, sexual orientation or gender identity, and we have a proud legacy of providing care that meets the unique health needs of LGBTQ patients. That includes providing HIV care in the 1980s at specialty clinics in Los Angeles and San Francisco before most other providers were doing so; operating one of the only specialty trans care centers in San Francisco, the Gender Institute at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital; and providing primary and specialty care for gay and trans patients every day at our hospitals and clinics across the state.
What is Dignity Health’s history as a faith-based system?
Like many other health systems across the country, Dignity Health’s history is rooted in the Catholic faith. In 1854, eight Sisters arrived in San Francisco, California and immediately began caring for residents of a city struck by cholera, then typhoid and influenza. They founded St. Mary's Hospital, now the oldest continuously operating hospital in the city. That commitment to caring for all people, especially those who are poor and vulnerable, continues today.
How does being a Catholic health system affect what care is offered?
Catholic hospitals are more likely to offer care such as maternal care, mental health, and trauma care than secular hospitals. Catholic hospitals also typically provide more care for at-risk and low-income patients.
Catholic hospitals agree to uphold Catholic values. This includes not providing a small number of services at their facilities, including elective (non-emergent) abortion, elective (non-emergent) procedures that result in sterilization such as hysterectomies or vasectomies, in-vitro fertilization, and physician-assisted suicide. These services are not typically performed in hospitals regardless of religious affiliation.
What happens in an emergency situation where an abortion might be needed?
If a pregnancy threatens a mother’s life, emergency care will always be provided to any patient, even if it results in the termination of a pregnancy. This decision is made by the patient’s doctor.
Are there restrictions on UC physicians practicing in Dignity Health hospitals?
Dignity Health expects all clinicians practicing at its facilities to provide services in accordance with their professional judgement and the needs and wishes of their patients. Dignity Health also expects all clinicians to inform patients of all of their health care options and transfer a patient to another provider if a certain service is not offered.
How can I help?
The University is considering how to engage in partnerships with organizations like Dignity Health in the future. To voice your support for continued collaboration, you can voice your support to continue these vital health programs by submitting comments up until March 16 by contacting the UC Regents.