Northern Region Facilities Plan to Guide Scripps Health’s Growth

The northern region facilities plan also includes the evolution of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla into a new state-of-the-art regional medical center that will bring together the expertise and services of both Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and Scripps Green Hospital.

Scripps explored the options of rebuilding or retrofitting Scripps Green and the adjoining Geisel Pavilion for expansion purposes and in keeping with state legislation. However, existing property restrictions and height limits would prevent the construction of what is needed, as well as the ability to make any significant improvements without closing patient care facilities for several years.

To address this challenge while respecting the valuable physicians, staff, programs and services on both campuses, Scripps will instead further build out the La Jolla campus and transition Green medical staff, employees and services to La Jolla over the next five to 10 years, creating a new medical center campus to include an additional medical office building (MOB) and a third multi-story hospital tower like the two newest towers there today. The transition from Green to La Jolla can begin once the MOB is complete, with specific timing and location of services still to be determined.

"Putting our patients at the center of all we do is a legacy we inherited from Ellen Browning Scripps and Mother Mary Michael Cummings - two pioneering, courageous women who first brought health care to San Diego," Van Gorder said. "Like them, we want to provide quality care for another century or longer, and this plan charts a course to that future."