$712M Providence plans include San Clemente, RMV “cornerstones”

When executives began planning the future of Providence Mission Hospital, they saw the growth of the nearby inland community of Rancho Mission Viejo, which is several phases into a development that will ultimately see 14,000 new homes built.

“There will be thousands of people in Rancho Mission Viejo as it gets built out in the coming years,” Providence Mission Hospital Chief Executive Seth Teigen said.

The executives asked themselves if they had the capacity to handle such growth.

“The answer was no,” Teigen said of the existing campus in the city of Mission Viejo (population: 92,515), which is about an 8mile drive from the Rancho Mission Viejo master-planned community. “The older buildings need to be replaced.”

The hospital’s expansion will focus on a new patient care tower with state-ofthe-art operating suites and cardiac catheterization labs at its existing campus.

The new tower enhances the neuroscience center, cardiovascular programs and maternity services.

It will also have nearly 100 new private patient rooms.

“When people come into our hospital, they don’t expect a roommate. That’s part of the promise,” Teigen said.

RMV, SC Work

As part of its $712 million expansion plan, Providence is set to build a 42,000square-foot, high-end urgent healthcare facility in Rancho Mission Viejo, which has seen a large number of homes built for those older than 55.

The facility will have “everything from soup to nuts, where you wouldn’t have to leave that community” to get most care, Teigen said.

A similar facility will be built in San Clemente, near its outlet mall just off the 5 freeway.

“Rancho Mission Viejo and San Clemente will be the cornerstones,” he said.

The centers will be staffed with emergency medicine physicians, a full-service imaging center with advanced diagnostics, and a multi-specialty clinic with primary care physicians, OB-GYNs and other specialty care providers.

“It’s like our Laguna Beach campus. If you get wheeled in there, it can handle most things. If it’s a major healthcare event, patients are transferred to Mission Viejo,” Teigen said.

Emerging Trend

These centers follow a major trend in healthcare to have more surgeries and other procedures done in ambulatory settings where patients can get 95% of their needed services and don’t need to spend the night in a hospital.

“Ambulatory has become more important,” Teigen said. “In the center, there has to be a world-class medical center.”

The Mission Viejo hospital will have about 300 patient beds after the new facilities are constructed. It estimates about 600,000 to 700,000 in South Orange County are covered under its insurance plans.

“We believe we’re the high-value, low-cost provider in the community,” Teigen said.