California-based hospital UC San Diego Health (UCSD) in the US has closed the purchase of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center from Prime Healthcare for $200m.

The 302-bed Alvarado Hospital has now been renamed as UC San Diego Health East Campus Medical Center.

It features a new emergency department, renovated intensive care unit, and expanded behavioural health services.

In addition, the facility allows for future collaboration with the County of San Diego to develop a dedicated behavioural health patient care tower.

The acquisition is said to align with UCSD’s ten-year strategy, emphasising a systematic improvement of timely access to care.

These include the revitalisation of its Hillcrest Medical Centre campus, the launch of new clinics, and the development of a replacement hospital.

UC San Diego Health CEO Patty Maysent said: “We are grateful to all the teams who contributed to this milestone merger with UC San Diego Health.

“Together, we start a new chapter to expand access to needed medical and surgical care in eastern San Diego.

“This is a unique opportunity to create a more robust community-oriented model of care while increasing access to the nationally recognised care of UC San Diego Health.”

UC San Diego Health is an academic health system and one of five such centres in the University of California.

With a total of 1,101 beds, it encompasses various facilities.

Among these facilities are UC San Diego Medical Center, Jacobs Medical Center, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, Moores Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Institute, Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, and Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

The health system offers primary, same-day, and speciality care clinics across the region.