Cedars-Sinai, UCLA Health System and Select Medical Announce Partnership to Open Medical Rehabilitation Hospital

Joint venture to result in 138-bed hospital at former Century City Hospital to provide advanced treatment of spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, stroke, and other acute conditions.

Los Angeles - Dec. 3, 2013 – Cedars-Sinai, UCLA Health System and Select Medical announced today a partnership to create a 138-bed acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital located in the former Century City Hospital. With an expected opening in late 2015, the rehabilitation hospital will serve the growing needs in the community for inpatient rehabilitation, and is also expected to serve as a center for treating complex rehabilitation cases from throughout the nation.

The joint venture is an LLC partnership among Cedars-Sinai, UCLA Health System and Select Medical. The vision of the partnership is to develop a world-class regional rehabilitation center providing highly specialized care, advanced treatment, and leading-edge technologies to treat individuals with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, stroke, amputation, neurological disorders, and musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions.

Currently, both Cedars-Sinai and UCLA Health System provide acute inpatient rehabilitation services at their respective facilities. Both of these facilities are usually full, as capacity is limited (28 beds at Cedars-Sinai and 11 beds at UCLA Health System). When the new hospital opens, Cedars-Sinai and UCLA Health System would transition their acute inpatient rehabilitation services to the new facility.

The new facility would be operated by Select Medical, a leading provider of long-term acute care and rehabilitation, with hospital and outpatient locations in 44 states, including the renowned Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey. It has partnered with a number of academic medical centers, including Baylor Health System and Penn State Hershey, to manage and operate similar rehabilitation hospitals.

"As one of the most highly respected academic medical centers and health systems in the world, UCLA is delighted to join forces and share expertise with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Select Medical, a preeminent provider of post-acute care in the United States," said Dr. David T. Feinberg, president, UCLA Health System and chief executive officer, UCLA Hospital System, associate vice chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences. "The addition of this rehabilitation facility will be of extraordinary benefit to the people of Los Angeles."

"This exciting project is a natural progression of Cedars-Sinai’s mission, to provide the highest level of patient care while supporting medical innovation," said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Health System. "Meeting the health needs of the community, state and nation often requires a new type of partnership and we look forward to working with UCLA Health System and Select Medical to create a highly advanced, comprehensive rehabilitation center for patients."

"UCLA Health System and Cedars-Sinai are two pillars in medicine, and we are honored to work with them," said David S. Chernow, president of Select Medical. "In fact, the joint venture is already creating synergies among the three partners. For example, we will feature an open medical staff model led by a core group of physician leaders from both UCLA Health System and Cedars-Sinai. At the same time, Select Medical has begun to share lessons learned and best practices from our experience running top-tier medical rehabilitation hospitals. All of it should add up to a new destination for patients for years to come."

Earlier this year, a feasibility study found that appropriate seismic retrofitting would enable the facility to meet seismic safety standards and all necessary licensure requirements to be operated as a rehabilitation hospital. The building’s current owner has begun infrastructure and modernization work to bring the building up to standards. The preparation work will be completed in 2015, and will allow building occupancy until 2030.