Access to healthcare in the Inland Empire has long been a challenge—but UC Riverside aims to change that with plans to build a new teaching hospital and outpatient medical center to serve its growing School of Medicine.
The project is intended to expand access to both primary and specialty care, while also creating more local residency opportunities for medical students, said UCR Health CEO Tim Collins.
“We want to build that up and bring more physicians to the marketplace to provide world-class care to the community,” Collins told CalMatters.
California faces a statewide shortage of primary care providers, with rural regions among the hardest hit. The Inland Empire—comprising Riverside and San Bernardino counties—is particularly underserved. According to the Los Angeles Times, 62% of San Bernardino County residents and 42% in Riverside County lack adequate healthcare access.
“Even compared to our coastal neighbors, the Inland Empire is particularly strained when it comes to resident-to-physician ratios,” the Inland Empire Health Plan Foundation reported.
Location and Project Scope
UC Riverside plans to develop the new campus on a 20-acre site in Riverside, located near Interstate 215 and State Route 60, about five miles from the university. The land is leased from private firm TDA Investments, which will co-develop the project.
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12 acres will house an outpatient center and a 280-bed hospital
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8 acres will include a parking structure and a medical office building
The first phase will focus on the outpatient center—a “one-stop shop” for services such as diagnostic imaging, outpatient surgery, oncology, and digestive health, Collins said.
“It will integrate all the offerings that we call outpatient—services that don’t require a hospital stay—and deliver them at a lower cost,” he explained.
Construction of the hospital will follow, though no timeline has been finalized. The university may also lease a nearby 22-acre parcel in the future for medical research facilities, conference spaces, or biomedical business incubators.
A Regional Network of Care
Beyond the central facility, UC Riverside plans to establish a network of outpatient centers across the Inland Empire, focusing on underserved areas with significant healthcare gaps.
The disparity is stark: The Inland Empire has 42 primary care doctors and 83 specialists per 100,000 people, compared to 60 and 131, respectively, for the state overall, according to the California Health Care Foundation.
As a result, many Inland Empire residents must travel to Los Angeles, Orange, or San Diego counties for specialist care in fields like cardiology or oncology.
Closing the Training Gap
Part of the long-term solution is training and retaining local doctors. Since its medical school opened in 2013, UC Riverside has graduated 454 physicians—most of whom have ties to the region, with half coming from underrepresented groups.
However, without its own hospital, UC Riverside has had to rely on partner hospitals for student training. Many students leave the area to complete their residencies—and often don’t return.
“By building this network of facilities, we’ll be able to expand the number of residencies we can offer and retain the physicians we train here,” Collins said.