UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Plan Strategic Affiliation

ORANGE and LOS ANGELES Counties, Calif., June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two leading 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 — announced today their intent to form a strategic affiliation that brings together their academic, clinical and research expertise, and resources to enhance children's health care services in Southern California.

The two organizations, which share similar missions and values, plan to establish a wider geographic pediatric collaboration that strengthens and broadens their ability to offer the highest quality, patient- and family-centered care to their respective and shared communities. In addition to working together with physicians, patients and families, the collaboration will work closely with employers, health plans, public health agencies and other organizations to offer children and families high quality and compassionate care close to home.

The UCLA Mattel–Miller Children's Health alliance plans to focus 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, as well as their nationally recognized centers of excellence for clinical education of residents and fellows in pediatric medicine. This 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."

Through joint strategic planning and an expansion of services, both organizations will leverage existing expertise at Miller Children's and complementary specialty and acute care services from UCLA Mattel to bolster existing programs, further grow clinical and research programs and identify opportunities for future growth of community-based facilities and services.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage both organizations' exceptional strengths in pediatrics while greatly improving the health and health care of children," said John Bishop, CEO of Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, Long Beach Memorial and Community Hospital Long Beach. "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."

By bringing together clinical and research teams, these two leading children's hospitals and their specialty and outpatient pediatric care centers in communities throughout the region will be better positioned to provide comprehensive pediatric health services to meet the unique and growing needs of Southern California families. They will work closely with community pediatricians and other clinicians and providers to create a network to improve children's access to care. 

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. Both UCLA Mattel and Miller Children's are uniquely positioned to provide children a lifetime of care in a single location. 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 that embodies their commitment to provide the highest level of research-based clinical care in a supportive, nurturing environment that is convenient for children and families. The new strategic affiliation will form the basis for continued collaboration and enhanced pediatric services across Southern California.

One of the nation's top children hospitals, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital serves the most critically ill children with pediatric clinical practices and research that make it an international model for medical care and innovation. With access to clinical trials and top-ranked clinical care — plus specialists and subspecialists at one of the nation's leading medical schools, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA — the hospital is consistently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the country's best children's hospitals. Programs include transplant and other nationally-recognized medical and surgical services. Research through UCLA's Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute enables physician scientists to pioneer therapies that shape pediatric patient care globally. UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital also has one of country's largest pediatric telemedicine programs. Specialists offer expert care to remote Southern California locations and internationally through the pediatric Global Health program. 

The 369-bed Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, part of MemorialCare Health System, is among the country's 10 largest children's hospitals. One of only eight free-standing children's hospitals in California, Miller Children's treats over 100,000 children annually at its hospital, outpatient specialty and satellite centers—as well as maternity care for expectant mothers—all under one roof. A national pioneer in perinatal and neonatal medicine for high-risk mothers and babies, Miller Children's is renowned for advances in treating fragile newborns with one of the largest and most respected neonatal intensive care units; for Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Center; pediatric heart, orthopedics and emergency centers; and rated among the best for treating cystic fibrosis, red blood disorders and sickle cell anemia. With sister teaching hospital Long Beach Memorial, it is the West's second largest hospital campus, providing a lifetime of care for children and adults.

UCLA Health includes four hospitals on two campuses — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center; UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica; UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital; and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA — and more than 160 primary care and specialty clinics throughout Southern California. UCLA Health ranks No. 1 in Los Angeles, No. 1 in California and No. 5 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report's 2016-17 Best Hospitals survey. Visit UCLAhealth.org.

MemorialCare Health System, a nonprofit Southern California integrated delivery system and pioneer in evidence-based medicine, has more than 200 care sites; five top hospitals — Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, Community Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills; MemorialCare Medical Group; Greater Newport Physicians; Seaside Health Plan; and ambulatory surgery, imaging, outpatient, kidney dialysis and urgent care centers.  For more information, visit memorialcare.org.

SOURCE MemorialCare Health System