MemorialCare: READY FOR ANYTHING

How crisis propelled one of California’s most innovative regional healthcare systems into a stunning and swift transformation.

Digital journeys can be multi-headed hydras under the best of circumstances, but when disrupted by a global crisis, the well-prepared can use the cataclysm as an accelerator and excel beyond their own expectations. That’s what happened when COVID-19 descended on MemorialCare, one of California’s premier nonprofit integrated health systems.

Listed among the nation’s Best Health Systems and Best Workplaces, MemorialCare has more than 225 care locations in a catchment area that covers Orange County and parts of Los Angeles County. The system encompasses MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center, MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center, and a host of outpatient surgical, imaging, breast, physical therapy, dialysis urgent care, and health centers. They also provide ambulatory clinical services in Los Angeles and Orange Counties through MemorialCare Medical Group, a 300-plus multispecialty medical group and Greater Newport Physicians IPA, the longest-running Independent Physician’s Association in Orange County.

To encourage the growth of innovation, the MemorialCare Innovation Fund invests in privately held companies offering solutions to healthcare’s most pressing problems, such as digital healthcare transformation specialists Avia. The technology-forward system also uses Epic’s intuitive interactive myChart patient information system.

As a regional healthcare system, MemorialCare’s innovative approach to quality care provision is a standout, making the process of caregiving simpler, faster, efficient, and more affordable, ensuring that every patient receives the precise care they need at the moment they need it most.

The organization’s digital journey began when the demands of growth created an opportunity to support their clinicians and patients with leading-edge technology, starting with behavioral health. As the organization looked to extend the reach of their specialists to each of their primary care offices, they soon found that not every office could have its own specialist. To compensate, they laid the groundwork for virtual access and offer patients access to a self-guided online adjunct to the care being delivered through in-person visits.