New Off-Campus Health Complex

As we noted when we posted the preliminary Regents' agenda for this week, UCLA is proposing a new Sports Medicine complex at an off-campus location.* More detail is now available. The complex - to be placed in an existing structure near the junction of the 405 and 105 freeways - will include other elements of healthcare apart from sports medicine:

UCLA Sports Medicine Institute: The new UCLA Sports Medicine Institute will be a state-of-the-art facility serving a growing number of patients and athletes, featuring an ambulatory surgery center, outpatient clinic, advanced imaging, and rehabilitation for comprehensive musculoskeletal care. By uniting specialists in sports medicine, orthopedics, radiology, anesthesiology, and physical therapy in the same facility, it will provide complete care for musculoskeletal needs. This expansion will improve access to orthopedic services in an outpatient setting, relieving demand at UCLA’s Santa Monica and Ronald Reagan Medical Centers.

UCLA Clinical Microbiology Laboratory: The UCLA Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, also known as the Brentwood Laboratory, provides comprehensive testing for infectious agents and select autoimmune disorders and hosts an accredited Clinical Microbiology Postdoctoral Training Program. The renovated space would consolidate several off-campus leased laboratories currently housed in older buildings that do not comply with UC Seismic Safety Policy standards.

Community Fill Pharmacy and Specialty Pharmacy: With the Peter Morton Medical Building nearing capacity, the pharmacy department needs additional space to meet rising demand. Currently serving both inpatient and outpatient needs, the department is also preparing to handle the new prescription volume from UCLA's employee health plans and local employers. The renovated property will become a centralized fulfillment center for UCLA Health’s retail and specialty pharmacy services...

The $298.2 million total project budget would be funded by external financing supported by revenues of the UCLA Hospital System ($293.2 million) and grant funds ($5 million)...**

Full report at https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar26/f3.pdf.

All financing comes from the UCLA Hospital System. Regents' proposed approval includes a statement that UC (the Regents) is (are) not to be at risk.

As blog readers will know, the UCLA Hospital System has been an expansionary mode, buying existing facilities and renovating or repurposing them. In part, this expansion might be seen as related to UCLA's offering of a Medicare Advantage plan to LA County residents.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-regents-meetings-at-uc-san.html.

**The $5 million is a grant from UCOP for environmental features.

Straws in the Wind - Part 283

From The Dartmouth: The College is requiring Dartmouth Libraries to cut its budget over the next two fiscal years, according to emails sent by dean of libraries Susanne Mehrer to library staff and obtained and reviewed by The Dartmouth. While a Dec. 1 email from Mehrer stated the required cuts totaled $2,614,000, Mehrer wrote in a March 5 email that the “FY27–FY28 budget planning figure is $1 million lower” than the initial $2.6 million cut...

In an email statement to The Dartmouth, College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote that “all units across campus are participating in annual budget planning for FY27” as the College “work[s] to align expenses with revenue growth.” “Our financial position remains healthy, and this year’s budget planning will help Dartmouth better navigate cost pressures, including inflation and healthcare expenses, to ensure we stay in a strong financial position,” Barnello wrote...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/03/pierry-dartmouth-libraries-faces-more-than-1-million-in-budget-cuts-over-next-two-fiscal-years.

There's one thing you can be sure of...

...Contrary to what it says, this message did not come from "your health plan." Do not click. Delete.

UC Hospital Scrutiny Coming

As blog readers will know, the UC Regents will be meeting this coming week. In particular, the Health Services Committee will be meeting and will be discussing a new system of cost controls being implemented by the state:

The Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) was established by California’s Health Care Quality and Affordability Act as part of the 2022–23 State budget to address rapidly rising healthcare costs and improve affordability for consumers and purchasers... 

A core mechanism in OHCA’s strategy is the establishment of healthcare cost growth targets designed to cap the annual rate of increase in per capita healthcare expenditures across the system. In April 2024, the Health Care Affordability Board (Board) approved a target that starts at 3.5 percent annual growth for 2025 and 2026, declines to 3.2 percent for 2027–28, and ultimately reaches three percent by 2029, aligning spending growth with typical household income growth...

The Board identified seven hospitals as high-cost hospitals based on a pricing analysis and set lower spending targets for these facilities (1.8 percent in 2026, 1.7 percent in 2027–28, and 1.6 percent in 2029). Annually, OHCA will update the list of hospitals meeting the high-cost criteria and the factors used in that determination. UC hospitals are included in the hospital sector, and none have been designated as high-cost hospitals... [underline added]

Enforcement of spending caps could strain hospital finances if reimbursement and operational costs continue to rise faster than permitted spending levels... 

Full Regents item at https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar26/h1.pdf.

As blog readers will know, UCLA has been adding to its hospital enterprise at a time when increased cost controls and scrutiny of costs are being imposed.  

Straws in the Wind - Part 282

From the Brown Daily Herald: Brown will offer optional hostile intruder training to students, faculty and employees... Students, faculty and employees can register online to attend the newly designed in-person or live virtual training sessions... All sessions will be led by FBI-trained instructors, Brown Police Chief Hugh Clements and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Sarah Latham wrote in the message.

Prior to the Dec. 13 mass shooting, the University had “not done active shooter training with students” unless a department requested a training session that included students, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 previously told The Herald. Training for faculty and employees was offered but not mandatory, Paxson said. After Dec. 13, “we know that building a sense of preparedness for such events can help contribute to an individual sense of safety and well-being,” the message reads. “At the same time, we understand that each person’s readiness to participate will vary.”  ...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2026/03/brown-to-offer-hostile-intruder-training-for-students-faculty-employees.

Note: UCLA's training video is at the link below:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbqmzCZS_A.

Disappeared - Part 2

From the Daily Bruin: When a UCLA Early Care and Education teacher was arrested for child sexual abuse in 2024, the families of his former students expected the university to keep them informed about the case. But parents said the university did not contact them when the former teacher failed to appear in court last month...*

[Christopher] Rodriguez filed to appeal his conviction and was later released on bond, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate locator. California law allows some people convicted of misdemeanor offenses to remain out of custody while their appeals are pending – with one condition of Rodriguez’s release being that he continued to provide regular updates to the court.

The LA County Superior Court issued a warrant for Rodriguez on Feb. 9 after he did not show up to a scheduled court appearance. Within a day, families of his former students began finding out Rodriguez did not appear in court through one another or their lawyers, but were surprised that the school did not send them any updates about the situation...

A UCLA ECE spokesperson said in an emailed statement Tuesday that while community safety is ECE’s highest priority, it does not receive updates on the criminal case. Families are encouraged to seek information from the court system directly, the spokesperson added in the statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/03/10/ece-parents-say-ucla-isnt-updating-them-on-ex-teacher-convicted-of-sexual-abuse.

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*Our previous post on this matter is at https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/02/disappeared.html.

Lawsuit by the State

From the LA Times: California and 16 Democratic states are suing to challenge a Trump administration policy requiring higher education institutions, including University of California and California State University campuses, to collect data — including student grade-point averages — to prove they don’t illegally consider race in admissions. Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is among the state attorneys general who filed the suit [last] Wednesday against a Department of Education rule that asks colleges to submit “the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students.” Bonta called the requirement a “fishing expedition” that is “demanding unprecedented amounts of data from our colleges and universities under the guise of enforcing civil rights law.” ...

The policy, announced in August, requires schools to submit disaggregated data on gender, race, grade-point averages and test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students by March 18...

The new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade-point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public... The government made a similar ask of UC in August when it proposed a $1.2-billion settlement fine to resolve allegations of federal civil rights law violations at UCLA after cutting off more than half a billion dollars in federal medical, science, and energy research funding. UC President James B. Milliken said the university will not pay the fine but is open to talks with the Trump administration... 

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-12/california-sues-trump-over-policy-requiring-colleges-to-submit-race-test-score-admissions-data.

Note that it is unclear - apart from not being willing to pay $1.2 billion - what UC's position is with regard to the data request. Is it passively part of California's lawsuit? Did it have any input into the lawsuit? Any comments by UC on the specifics of the lawsuit? There are no recent statements on this matter posted on the UC news or federal developments websites.

The ongoing conflict with the feds is on the agenda of the Regents this week, but discussion will be behind closed doors.