UCI Health and General Catalyst announce unique collaboration to drive digital innovations in healthcare

Orange, Calif. — UCI Health and General Catalyst have formed a multiyear collaboration to advance digital transformation that increases the efficiency of healthcare delivery, expands health equity and creates new care models that meet the changing needs of our increasingly diverse community.

UCI Health joins a select group of leading health systems to collaborate with General Catalyst, one of the country’s top venture capital firms, and leverage the expertise of its Health Assurance Network, a group of tech innovation companies dedicated to developing digital solutions that seeks to transform the health industry and improve the lives of patients.

“We aim to transform healthcare from within and recognize that no one can do so alone,” said Chad T. Lefteris, CEO of UCI Health. “Taking advantage of on-going innovation to identify, create and accelerate new opportunities and partnerships will advance the UCI Health promise to improve the health of our community.”

This transformation, in collaboration with General Catalyst, works toward creating a more equitable and more effective healthcare system for the future, he said.

“Our relationship will expose those innovators to medical insights rooted in the experience and deep expertise of UCI Health leaders and physician-scientists,” Lefteris said.

In addition, General Catalyst will help UCI Health develop a strategy to foster digital innovation within the health system while offering UCI Health opportunities to collaborate with and explore the innovations of the company’s Health Assurance Network in real world clinical settings.

“At General Catalyst, we believe that radical collaboration with transformational systems, like UCI Health, is a remedy to the challenges health systems face in improving standards of care and meeting the needs of our community,” said Daryl Tol, head of Health Assurance Ecosystem at General Catalyst.

“UCI Health’s positioning within the greater UC Health system as a driver of change is illustrated by its established UCI Innovation Fund, Institute for Precision Health and leading informatics program," Tol said. "Furthermore, its commitment to leveraging digital tools to address gaps in the continuum of care solidified this partnership. We are grateful to be on this journey with UCI Health to help propel its transformation and foster the connective tissue within our Health Assurance ecosystem in order to advance patient outcomes.”

The clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine, UCI Health is backed by the resources of a premier public research university and is the only academic health system in Orange County, one of the nation’s largest counties by population. UCI Health is committed to scientific discovery, clinical innovation and world class healthcare and leveraging UCI’s world-renowned informatics program to improve healthcare quality and access.

The collaboration with General Catalyst reflects the goals of the UCI Health Innovation Fund, established in 2021 to advance the health system beyond its traditional Discover. Teach. Heal. mission to embrace the promise of digital technology and collaborate with private sector innovators to transform the delivery of healthcare and improve outcomes for patients.

“The UCI Health Innovation Fund was created to address gaps across the care continuum and invest in digital and other health technologies and services that reimagine patient care and improve the patient experience,” said Scott Joslyn, chief information officer and chief innovation officer for UCI Health. “We believe this will lead to new solutions that transform healthcare.”

UCI Health is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine, and the only academic health system in Orange County. Patients can access UCI Health at primary and specialty care offices across Orange County and at its main campus, UCI Medical Center in Orange, Calif. The 459-bed, acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for 22 consecutive years, provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center is home to Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
John Murray | UCI Health | jdmurray@hs.uci.edu