Scripps Purchases Sharp Mission Park Medical Centers

OCEANSIDE – Sharp HealthCare and Scripps Health announced today the sale of Sharp Mission Park Medical Group Health Centers to Scripps. In addition to the sale, the 64 physicians of Sharp Mission Park Medical Group will join the 35 physicians of Scripps Mercy Medical Group under a new name to be announced in the coming months. The sale is scheduled to be completed by September 30, 2008.

Sharp HealthCare owns and operates seven Sharp Mission Park Medical Center locations in Oceanside, Vista, Encinitas and Fallbrook, employing 430 staff.

Sharp Mission Park Medical Group includes family medicine and internal medicine physicians, along with pediatricians. Scripps Mercy Medical Group employs 100 staff in its offices in Hillcrest, Bonita and Encinitas, where its physicians practice pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine. Sharp HealthCare is selling its assets associated with Sharp Mission Park Medical Centers to Scripps Health, and Sharp employees working for Sharp Mission Park Medical Centers will become employees of Scripps Health.

“The physicians of Sharp Mission Park Medical Group and Scripps Mercy Medical Group share the same goals: to provide the highest level of care to our patients while meeting the growing health care needs of the North County communities we serve,” said Lou Hogrefe, MD, president of Sharp Mission Park Medical Group. “We have found an ideal partner in Scripps Mercy Medical Group to allow us to continue to offer high-quality care while expanding our services.”

Joining with Scripps Mercy Medical Group gives the physicians and patients of Sharp Mission Park Medical Group broader hospital affiliations in the region through the Scripps system, which has served coastal North County since 1978 and is the designated trauma provider for the area.

“The joining together of our two medical groups is good for our patients, good for our physicians and staff and good for the community,” said Kevin Hirsch, MD, president of Scripps Mercy Medical Group. “We share the same philosophy of service-oriented patient care. Patients of both groups should expect the same high-quality care and service they have always received.”

Scripps will open a new medical office building in Carlsbad later this year to expand the medical group’s presence in North County.

Contacts:

John Cihomsky, Sharp HealthCare, 858-499-4117

Don Stanziano, Scripps Health, 858-678-7486