UCI Health opened an all-electric hospital Dec. 10 in Irvine, Calif., capping a long-term vision for its $1.3 billion medical campus. The site also includes the Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building, both of which opened in 2024.
UCI Health—Irvine is a seven-story, 350,000-square-foot facility with 144 beds. It is the nation’s largest all-electric hospital and the sixth hospital in UCI Health’s 1,461-bed academic health system. The “all-electric” designation means the facility draws all of its energy use from electricity only, meaning no fossil fuels, such as natural gas, are used by the hospital. The system comprises its main campus, UCI Health—Orange, the Irvine acute care hospital and medical campus, four other hospitals, and affiliated physicians.
Chad Lefteris, president and CEO of UCI Health, told Becker’s the new inpatient campus fulfills an idea dating back to the late 1960s, when UC Irvine’s founders first discussed building a hospital to serve Irvine and the surrounding area. He discussed what the milestone means for UCI Health, the leadership principles that guided him through the process and his advice for peers.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: The opening of UCI Health–Irvine is a major milestone in healthcare facility design. From your perspective as CEO, what does this project say about where health systems need to be heading — and how did you define success beyond just opening the doors?
Chad Lefteris: As leaders, we sometimes have to watch what we say, because people latch onto things — and I mean that in a good way.
Back in what I call the “valley of despair,” during the worst moment of the pandemic, we coined a phrase: “We are a forever organization.” We said we were going to make different choices, taking the long view. The University of California is not going anywhere. That idea permeated our earliest design discussions for this project.
That’s what led to our decision to get rid of fossil fuels and be better stewards of resources. I think this project sets a bar and shows others — from a design and engineering perspective — that they can do the same. Health systems are energy hogs, water hogs, you name it. So, we asked: How do we lessen our environmental impact?
That was a goal even before we knew the full scale of this project. Hopefully, it demonstrates to health systems — big or small — that this is possible. You can do this affordably if you take the long view. From a design and construction standpoint, I hope it opens the door for others to follow. We’re hearing from a lot of other systems. They’re asking questions, and we’re sharing openly what we’ve learned.
Q: Large-scale capital investments are under intense scrutiny right now. What was your strategy for aligning internal stakeholders — from the board to front-line leaders — around a long-term bet on sustainability and innovation?
CL: The idea actually predates the pandemic. At the time, we were running at near terminal velocity at our core academic health center. So we started to ask, “What options do we have?”
It tied into our goal of being the friendliest and most accessible academic health system in the country. Accessibility — creating more opportunities for patients to get care closer to home — was a key strategic driver.
Then, we started talking about how we could build and design this entire campus differently to set a new standard. It started with access, but then evolved into how do we do this while incorporating long-term environmental stewardship?
Q: Building an all-electric hospital required making decisions that didn’t yet have an industry roadmap. What leadership principles guided you through the risk, ambiguity and trade-offs?
CL: Part of the opportunity, in my opinion, came from the support we received from our broader campus leadership. Our chancellor was supportive when this was just a glimmer of an idea. We didn’t know the square footage, the number of beds — none of that.
That early support was incredibly important, as was support from our board. And also from our philanthropic partners — they signed on before the design was even finalized because they understood the community’s needs.
All of that — campus support, board support, philanthropy — came together in a powerful way. There was a lot of risk. We launched this in the first eight months of the pandemic. We didn’t slow down. In fact, we finished early. We were told this campus could take five to seven years to build out. We did it in just over four.
We got final board approval in January 2021 — think about what was happening then. COVID was in every headline. They could’ve hit the brakes. Instead, they said, “We have to go faster,” because the need existed before the pandemic and will exist during the next pandemic or crisis.
So I credit our board, our chancellor and our leaders for taking the long view — the “forever” mindset. That’s what propelled us. Looking back, it sounds easy. But it would’ve been much easier to hit the brakes. A lot of other projects were put on hold, as you probably know. We kept going, and it shows.
Q: For other CEOs planning major facilities or looking to modernize aging infrastructure, what’s the biggest mindset shift you believe is needed — and what would you do differently if you were starting this project today?
CL: We spent a lot of time on the cost. We asked, “How can we strike a balance? How can we build something different, environmentally, while also doing everything else we need — beds, ORs?”
The math showed us the way. We worked closely with our engineering team, campus architects and others on creative solutions. And ultimately, it has a payback. There’s a financial return on just the all-electric piece.
We didn’t believe that at first. When it was brought to me, I thought, “No way. That’s too good to be true.” But we worked the numbers, shared the work openly and transparently, and kept refining.
So my answer is this: Work openly with your experts. Bring in people who’ve done this in other industries. Yes, it comes with some risk, but it was the right thing to do — environmentally and financially. You pay a little more upfront, but when you take the long view, you see the return. I would tell anyone, don’t rule it out without studying it first with experts. The numbers will show you the way.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
CL: A lot of great buildings get built. This is the third hospital I’ve gotten to open. But designing and building the facility is actually the easy part. What makes these buildings special is what our teammates, clinicians and environmental services staff bring to them. That’s what makes them home.
On Dec. 10, we took a great photo of a huge number of teammates in front of the doors at 7 a.m. That’s my favorite moment — when we say, “Patients, we are open for business.”
Our first patient walked into the emergency department at 7:52 a.m. We had just pulled the tarp off the sign.
So yes — we are open. Inpatients are already here. It’s an exciting milestone for UC Irvine Health.
