UC San Diego Health marked a groundbreaking ceremony this week for the Gary and Mary West Outpatient Pavilion, a new La Jolla facility designed to handle orthopedic, spine and neurosurgical care without requiring patients to check into a hospital bed. The project is targeted to open in 2030 and will include a 23-hour post-surgical stay unit that the health system describes as the first of its kind at UC San Diego Health.
According to UC San Diego Health, the pavilion will enable procedures and recovery services that have traditionally required inpatient hospital stays. CEO Patty Maysent said the facility will bring specialty care, imaging, surgery, recovery and rehabilitation together at one outpatient destination. The health system says it will shift outpatient services currently handled at Jacobs Medical Center and the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion to the new building, freeing Jacobs Medical Center to expand its complex inpatient care.
University planning documents differ on exactly how big the new pavilion will be. UC San Diego's Planning, Design and Construction office describes the building as approximately 180,000 gross square feet on a 2.75-acre site, according to the university's current-projects page. A September 2026 UC Regents action-item document instead put the figure at approximately 183,000 gross square feet, and an earlier September 2024 Regents proposal described the site as 3.25 acres with an anticipated 2028 delivery — figures that don't match the later documents, and the record doesn't explain why they shifted.
What the Pavilion Will House
The building is planned around an ambulatory surgery center with nine operating rooms and two procedure rooms, three interventional radiology suites including two biplane angiography units for neurosurgical interventions, and an integrated sterile processing department, per UC San Diego Health's announcement. Its MRI procedural unit is expected to include MR-focused ultrasound and MR-guided laser ablation, along with neuromodulation implants and central nervous system delivery of biologic treatments.
Imaging offerings are slated to include CT, MRI, ultrasound, X-ray, DEXA and PET scanning, alongside indoor and outdoor rehabilitation and physical therapy areas. The pavilion will also provide the first urgent care services on the La Jolla medical campus and house a dedicated full-scale theranostics center. Dr. Christine Chung said the theranostics center will expand access, advance clinical trials and translate emerging discoveries into treatment options, while UC San Diego Health also plans to grow outpatient cancer services adjacent to Moores Cancer Center.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Alexander Khalessi said the pavilion will give neurosurgery and spine teams platform technologies to define the standard of neurosurgical care. UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said the new outpatient pavilion reflects academic medicine bringing research, innovation and compassionate care together for patients. UC San Diego Health says it designed the patient experience so people can move through consultation, diagnostic testing, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation within one space.
A $434 Million Project and a Philanthropic Partner
A September 2026 UC Regents action-item document pegs the proposed budget at $434.21 million, split between $329.21 million in external financing and $105 million drawn from hospital reserves. Construction is anticipated to begin in winter 2027, with completion in summer 2029 and occupancy following in winter 2029.
West Health, founded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, has committed $40 million to the pavilion and is described by UC San Diego Health as one of the largest private supporters of outpatient care within the system. UC San Diego Health and West Health have collaborated for more than a decade on initiatives aimed at improving care for older adults, and the organizations are advancing a coordinated, technology-enabled care model through the West Health Accelerator, a six-year, $40 million initiative announced in August. That accelerator works on bed and transfer coordination, discharge planning, virtual care, procedural coordination and transitions between care settings, according to a UC San Diego Health announcement, which noted that by 2030 one in five Americans will be age 65 or older.
Part of a Broader Outpatient Push
The La Jolla groundbreaking follows a pattern already visible elsewhere in the system. UC San Diego Health opened its 250,000-square-foot McGrath Outpatient Pavilion at the Hillcrest medical campus in 2025, a facility that includes ambulatory surgery suites, operating rooms and advanced imaging technology as part of a multi-phase, 62-acre Hillcrest revitalization project. The September 2026 Regents filing frames the shift toward outpatient services as requiring an equal, if not greater, focus on adding ambulatory capacity across the system.
West Health's partnership with UC San Diego Health dates back further still: the two organizations celebrated the grand opening of the Gary and Mary West Senior Emergency Care Unit on Feb. 19, 2019, according to a release carried by PR Newswire. West Health has said its mission centers on lowering health care costs and helping seniors age in place with high-quality, affordable support.
UC San Diego Health describes itself as the region's only academic health system, encompassing Hillcrest Medical Center, Jacobs Medical Center and East Campus Medical Center as part of a 1,011-bed system. U.S. News & World Report ranked UC San Diego Health the best hospital system in San Diego for 2026-27 and placed it among the nation's best in eight adult medical and surgical specialties for that same period.
