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Palomar Medical Center Downtown Escondido: At a Glance

After the new Palomar Medical Center opens in August 2012, the current campus will remain a vibrant and active facility offering a number of medical services.

Facility Services

  • Labor & Delivery
  • Urgent Care Center (no emergency)
  • Rady Pediatrics & Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
  • Behavorial Health (Crisis & Inpatient)
  • Acute Rehabilitation

Outpatient Services

  • Ambulatory Surgery
  • GYN Surgery
  • Infusion Center
  • Stereotactic Radiosurgery
  • Radiation Therapy
  • Occupational, Physical & Speech Therapy
  • Cardiac Rehabilitation
  • Women's Outpatient Services
  • Perinatal Services
  • Neurodiagnostic Testing
  • Sleep Center
  • Pulmonary Testing
  • Laboratory
  • Imaging

Fast Facts

  • Opened as Palomar Memorial Hospital in 1950
  • 381,000 square feet
  • 9-story building
  • 301 acute beds
  • 287 parking spaces
  • 10 operating rooms
  • Rady Children's Hospital run Neonatal Intensive Care Unit  (NICU) and Pediatric Care Unit
  • Planned expansion of women's and children's, acute rehabilitation, behavioral health and outpatient services

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the current hospital remain open after the New Palomar Medical Center opens?
Yes. The current hospital will remain a vibrant and active facility offering a number of medical services.

Will the current hospital still have an emergency room?
No. The current hospital will only operate a 24-hour Urgent Care Center.  All patients needing emergency or trauma attention will be treated at the New Palomar Medical Center.  The new Urgent Care Center will provide services to non-life threatening conditions, but will be staffed with physicians and medical staff who can assist any patient that arrives.  The emergency room currently open at the existing hospital will remain operational until the New Palomar Medical Center opens for business and will then transition into the Urgent Care Center.

Will the current hospital keep the same name - Palomar Medical Center?
No. The new hospital will be call "Palomar Medical Center" since the plan for the facility and surrounding buildings is to create a medical center atmosphere.  The current location will be re-named Palomar Health Downtown Campus.

What are the future plans for the current hospital and when are they expected to be completed?
The initial focus will be on upgrading the building's infrastructure such as plumbing, air handling and electrical, which has already begun.  The long range vision is to update and expand the Outpatient Rehabilitation, Women's and Children's and Behavioral Health units in the coming years.

There has been an extension to the rigid seismic upgrade mandates; How will that effect the downtown facility?
We have received an extension from the State that will allow us to operate the downtown facility from the mandated 2008 deadline to 2013, by that time all of our facilities will need to be seismically compliant. It is cost prohibitive for us to completely retrofit the entire downtown facility. Due to recent legislation adopted by the State (HAZUS), our engineers are looking at new analysis that may extend the use of the facility to 2015, perhaps longer based on outcomes of that study.

Are there still plans to follow through with the “plaza” idea for the current campus in Escondido?
We still envision a downtown medical plaza, but as was stated during the BB campaign, we will need developers and other businesses to partner with us to make the vision a reality. We have many interested parties and are looking forward to further development of the downtown area, once the new hospital is open. That can mean everything from mixed use retail space to living units that can be used for extended family stays or staff recruitment.

Are you following through with your commitments to the MOU with the City of Escondido?
Yes.  We have purchased two warehouses in the autopark/industrial area which house our Finance and Purchasing departments as well as our Home Health agency. We have also purchased the four properties across the street from the current hospital on Valley Blvd., thus completing the MOU commitments.

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