Irvine’s Healthy Outlook

greater irvine chamber Destination Irvine Economic Development

Bryan Starr

President & CEO, Greater Irvine Chamber

For more than a year of collectively enduring the pandemic, good health has been a top concern for just about everyone. For Orange County’s health care providers, it has always been and remains the number one priority. As Irvine emerges as a national leader in direct patient care, major hospital expansion projects have been completed, and more are in various stages of development in the city and neighboring areas. It’s not only good for our health, but it’s also good for the economy.

Following the expansion one year ago with a 12,500-square-foot facility in Newport Beach, City of Hope will bring its highly specialized cancer care to more patients in Orange County at its planned $1 billion, 190,000-square-foot cancer treatment and research campus in Irvine.

Opening in 2022 on 11 acres at FivePoint Gateway near the Orange County Great Park, City of Hope Orange County’s comprehensive cancer center will provide cancer care, phase I-III clinical trials, precision medicine, early detection and prevention programs, and more. Orange County’s only specialty hospital exclusively dedicated to treating and curing cancer is slated to open on the campus in 2025. The Irvine campus is the centerpiece of a regional network of cancer care that City of Hope is building in Orange County.

Adding to its medical center in Orange, University of California, Irvine will build a new $1.2 billion UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport as part of its Irvine campus. The complex will include a 144-bed worldclass hospital, outpatient specialty medical and surgery facilities, and the UCI Health Center for Advanced Care. Portions of the complex are projected to open in 2022 and 2023, with the hospital’s completion expected in 2025.

A medical stalwart in Orange County for more than 70 years, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in late 2020 opened the Fudge Family Birthing Suites at Hoag Hospital Irvine. The facility houses 12 state-of-the-art birthing suites and two C-section operating rooms. In January of 2020, Hoag opened its 45,000 square-foot health and wellness integrated Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch facility.

The Irvine Planning Commission recently approved plans for a sweeping expansion at Hoag’s Irvine campus that will affirm its steady ascension as a global destination for medical excellence and patientfocused outcomes. Physician-led Centers of Excellence in cancer, women’s health, and digestive health will transform Hoag’s delivery of care to an integrated, specialized services-based model. The first phase is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Impressive economic development progress is being made in Orange County’s health care sector—with Irvine leading the way. More than 60 years ago, the Irvine Master Plan laid the groundwork for economic resilience, and still today its provisions for balanced and innovative development proves to be a visionary plan. Major hospital projects in Irvine significantly expand the world-class health care Orange County residents receive and help to ensure a healthy economic future for the region.