UCI Health celebrates a year of recognition
Health system honored for patient safety, quality, nursing excellence, sustainability initiatives
December 28, 2023
UCI Health is one of the nation's top
health systems as ranked by Vizient,
Inc. and
U.S. News & World Report.
Orange, Calif. — UCI Health, Orange County’s only academic health system, is celebrating a year marked by repeated affirmation of its status as an elite healthcare institution.
One of the nation’s best hospitals
Healthcare safety and quality organization The Leapfrog Group recognized UCI Health with its prestigious Top Hospital Award, widely recognized as one of the most competitive awards a U.S. hospital can receive. Only 132 hospitals in the country received the recognition.
This fall also marked the system’s 18th ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, placing it among the top 30% of U.S. hospitals. UCI Health is one of only 87 hospitals in California to receive an ‘A.’
This year, UCI Health was also recognized as a five-star hospital and a top 10 performer nationally in the 2023 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Annual Ranking by Vizient Inc. UCI Medical Center was ranked in the top 10 for comprehensive academic medical centers in the U.S. for inpatient care.
Vizient also ranked the UCI Health outpatient care network among the top 10 ambulatory systems nationwide.
And for the 23rd consecutive year, UCI Health was one of the nation’s best hospitals as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
Specialty services recognized
In 2023, UCI Health also led the way in delivering exceptional specialty services, including maternal care, cancer and stroke.
For the third consecutive year, UCI Health Maternity Services earned the “high-performing” ranking from U.S. News & World Report. UCI Health was also recognized by Newsweek for the third straight year as one of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals for its commitment to giving every expectant mother superb care and an excellent childbirth experience.
Newsweek also rated UCI Health as one of America’s Best Cancer Hospitals in its inaugural rankings for the specialty. The ranking affirms the expertise at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in translating breakthrough scientific findings into clinical treatments. It also underscores the cancer center's dedication to prevention research as well as community outreach and education.
The American Heart Association awarded the UCI Health Heart Failure Program and the UCI Health Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center its Gold Plus Award. Organizations earn the award by following the latest research-based guidelines to treat heart disease and stroke. Adherence to those guidelines ultimately leads to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer hospital readmissions.
A fifth Magnet recognition for nurses
In 2023, UCI Health was awarded a fifth consecutive Magnet recognition from The American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Receiving a fifth consecutive Magnet recognition is a great achievement for UCI Health, as it continues to proudly belong to the global Magnet community — a select group of international healthcare organizations and hospitals. Fewer than 10% of Magnet hospitals have achieved five designations.
Magnet recognition, which UCI Health has had since 2003, is the gold standard for nursing excellence and is a factor when the public judges healthcare organizations.
Sustainability efforts celebrated
UCI Health is honored to be a nationally recognized leader in environmental sustainability. The healthcare sustainability organization Practice Greenhealth recognized the health system this year with two Circle of Excellence Awards and its second Greenhealth Emerald Award.
For the first time, UCI Health was also honored for reducing anesthetic gas emissions by 25% since 2022 with Practice Greenhealth’s Greening the OR Recognition.
UCI Health is currently constructing UCI Health — Irvine, which will be the nation’s first all-electric, carbon-neutral medical campus when it is complete in 2025. The 1.2 million-square-foot campus will be powered by a 45,000-square-foot central utility plant that uses no natural gas. The first building, the Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care, opens in spring 2024.
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About UCI Health
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 23 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, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department 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.
About UCI Health — Irvine
UCI Health — Irvine, a new medical complex under construction at the north end of the UC Irvine campus, will bring unparalleled expertise and the finest evidence-based care that only an academic medical system can offer to the communities of coastal and south Orange County.
As part of UCI Health — which includes the flagship UCI Medical Center in Orange, Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and multiple outpatient care locations — the new 1.2 million-square-foot campus will offer key clinical programs in oncology, digestive health, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and spine surgery.
The nation’s first all-electric, carbon-neutral medical center, UCI Health — Irvine will be home to:
The Joe C. Wen & Family UCI Health Center for Advanced Care, a five-story, 168,000-square-foot medical facility offering the full range of multidisciplinary specialty care for children and adults under a single roof, urgent care services, the Center for Children’s Health and the UCI Health Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders — Opening spring 2024
The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building, a five-story, 193,000-square-foot tower with 52 private exam rooms, 26 infusion bays and eight outpatient operating rooms — Opening 2024
A seven-story, 350,000-square-foot, acute care hospital with 144 inpatient beds, 10 operating suites and a 24-hour emergency department with 20 treatment rooms — Opening 2025
