UC San Diego Health is the region’s only academic medical center, having served the San Diego community for more than half a century across a growing network that includes flagship campuses Hillcrest Medical Center and Jacobs Medical Center. The system’s Hillcrest campus operates a level 1 trauma center, regional burn center and comprehensive stroke center, and is staffed by approximately 5,000 nurses, doctors, technicians and administrators who care for all patients, including those who are uninsured or underinsured. Jacobs Medical Center, a 364-bed, 10-story facility that opened in 2016, includes 10 operating rooms, a dedicated blood and marrow transplant floor, and a birth center with a level 3 neonatal ICU. In addition, a Thornton MRI Expansion project at the campus began in August 2026 and is expected to be complete in fall 2027. The system’s East Campus Medical Center became UC San Diego Health’s third hospital two years ago, and its average daily census has since doubled, with more than 4,000 patients transferring there in the past two years, primarily from the flagship Jacobs and Hillcrest medical centers. UC San Diego Health’s hospitals appear on U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 “Best Hospitals” honor roll, ranked No. 1 in California and No. 1 in San Diego for the seventh consecutive year, and nationally ranked in eight adult specialties, including pulmonology and lung surgery at No. 7, obstetrics and gynecology at No. 8, and cardiology, heart and vascular surgery at No. 15. It is also rated “high-performing” in two adult specialties and in 23 procedures and conditions, ranking among the top 20 hospital systems in the nation.
