The University of San Diego and Palomar Health announced a partnership Wednesday that will have the North County health system collaborating with the private Catholic college in Linda Vista on wellness initiatives and on internship opportunities for medical and business students.
Announced with fanfare in front of the university’s new student wellness center, which is expected to open in early 2025, the 80,000-square-foot facility is named the Palomar Health Student Wellness Center. Palomar will not staff the facility but will, according to officials, consult with USD on a range of wellness services for students, faculty and staff. And, students in the university’s Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science and its School of Leadership and Education Sciences will have “placement opportunities” within Palomar’s network of care, which includes hospitals in Escondido and Poway and primary care and business offices in inland North County.
USD President James Harris III said his organization sought out a partner in health care to increase the connections between the classroom and the bedside. USD, especially in nursing, he noted, already places students with all local health systems.
“We wanted to have a deeper partnership, a connection with regard to placing our students, guaranteeing that placement for them, having a connection,” Harris said.
Diane Hansen, Palomar’s chief executive officer, said that her organization is interested in helping to teach wellness in an academic setting and perhaps in providing telehealth consultations at the new wellness center.
“You know, if we want to impact the cost of care, the best way to do that is to keep people out of the hospital,” Hansen said. “The way we get out in front of a lot of acute care issues that people have is to teach them from the beginning how to stay out of the hospital.”
It is the second collaboration announced by Palomar this summer. In late August, the organization announced a partnership with Sharp HealthCare to enhance some of its services with the goal of regaining financial equilibrium which has suffered in an environment of cost inflation and reimbursement stagnation.
The new wellness center is to include a range of services around mental health, diet and nutrition and physical activity, also incorporating a practice facility for the school’s Torreros basketball team.