San Francisco. Image courtesy Hawkeye Photo 2015.
UCSF Health and John Muir Health are augmenting their growing collaboration through a plan to expand world-class, compassionate cancer care.
The enhanced relationship will leverage the strengths of UCSF Health, Northern California’s leading academic medical center (ranked 7th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report) with John Muir Health’s leading community hospitals (ranked among the top four hospitals in the San Francisco-Oakland area and among the top 15 statewide by U.S. News & World Report) to provide a superior patient experience and quality oncology care closer to patients’ homes.
The collaboration will enable UCSF and John Muir Health (JMH) multi-disciplinary cancer care physicians to work together to diagnose and determine the best course of therapy for patients with complex cases, while enabling patients to remain in their East Bay communities. JMH cancer patients also will have access to UCSF’s clinical trials, augmenting the already strong trials program at JMH and giving them access to the very latest advances and breakthroughs in cancer treatment.
“John Muir Health and UCSF are like-minded organizations, committed to delivering cancer care in our communities through high-quality, efficient, value-based care,” said Mike Thomas, president and chief administrative officer of John Muir Medical Center, Concord (Calif.). “Our collaboration will leverage one another’s strengths to enhance the lives of our patients and allow them to remain in their own communities, where the support of friends and family can assist in the healing process.”
The expansion will build upon an affiliation established between UCSF and John Muir Health in 2015, which includes a commitment to provide premier care across a number of medical specialities, including organ transplant. The affiliation also includes the opening in 2018 of a new outpatient center in Berkeley through the two organizations’ joint venture known as BayHealth, and the establishment of Canopy Health – a growing Accountable Care Network that will provide participants with in-network health coverage through more than 4,000 physicians and 12 hospitals throughout the Bay Area.
“We are very pleased to be expanding our collaboration with John Muir Health in the effort to provide patients with precise diagnoses and the highest quality care in the most comforting, convenient environment possible,” said Mark Laret, chief executive officer and president of UCSF Health. “This collaboration will combine UCSF’s cancer program, which is at the forefront in scientific research, with the broad network of quality community oncologists, so we can build upon an already strong cancer program to meet the needs of the communities we serve.”