RIDGECREST REGIONAL HOSPITAL ANNOUNCES NEW COLLABORATION WITH KECK MEDICINE OF USC BRINGING UROLOGY SERVICES TO RIDGECREST

Monday, January 6, 2020, RIDGECREST, Calif. - Ridgecrest Regional Hospital (RRH) can reveal a new joint venture in collaboration with Keck Medicine of University of Southern California (USC), bringing urology services to Ridgecrest. Slated to launch in February 2020, RRH can look forward to a regular on campus presence from USC Urology, on rotation, ensuring different specialties are addressed.

This collaboration with Keck Medicine will provide RRH patients with access to a world renowned program, ranked No. 4 in the nation for urology by U.S. News and World Report. With the support and coordination of Keck Medicine, RRH Urology will be able to offer patient evaluation and treatment, as well as some surgical procedures. For surgeries that are unable to be performed safely on site, patients will have full access to the surgical services at USC facilities.

“The community has showed their support to have local urology coverage and I am pleased that we are able to partner with USC Urology to provide this service,” said RRH President/CEO Jim Suver. “Their clinical excellence and access to a broad range of urological specialties makes this a winning combination for our community. The RRH hospital board has approved an initial $405,000 investment in equipment to support this program. The opening of the urology clinic with USC will fulfill a hospital goal for many years to offer a complete compendium of services in a safe and positive manner for our patients.”

Charles Pietrangelo, Director of Business Development at RRH continued, “Having personally experienced the quality of care and compassion of this group of physicians, I am extremely excited about the partnership we’ve established with the USC Urology. We have mirrored and equipped our clinic with some of the same tools used at Keck Medical Center of USC, assuring that the community of Ridgecrest and beyond can receive the same exceptional care available at a nationally ranked academic medical center – but in a facility in our own neighborhood.”

The Ridgecrest Urology Clinic will launch with the following USC Urology providers on rotation at RRH:

• Inderbir Gill, MD
• Jeffrey Loh-Doyle, MD
• Mike M. Nguyen, MD
• Sumeet K. Bhanvadia, MD
• Shilo Rosenberg, MD
• Andre Berger, MD
• Daniel Park, PA-C

“We are excited to announce our rotating presence at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital,” said Inderbir S. Gill, MD, chair and distinguished professor of urology at Keck School of Medicine of USC and executive director of USC Urology. “Our physicians treat a broad spectrum of conditions using the most advanced technologies and evidence-based practices, and we look forward to working with the Ridgecrest community in the coming years.”

Urology is a surgical specialty which deals with diseases of the male and female urinary tract and the male reproductive organs. RRH Urology services and specialties will include treatment for: Bladder Cancer, Endourology, Kidney Cancer, Male Infertility, Men’s Health, Prostate Cancer, Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Testis Cancer and Urology Preventive Medicine.

Doctors and staff from USC Urology visit the new clinic space at RRH.
Pictured left to right: Charles Pietrangelo, RRH Director of Business Development; Joan McLane, Senior Clinical Administrative Director, USC Urology; Jeffrey Loh-Doyle, MD; Sumeet K. Bhanvadia, MD

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About Keck Medicine of USC

Keck Medicine of USC is one of only two university-based medical systems in the Los Angeles area. Its internationally renowned physicians and scientists provide world-class patient care at Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Cancer Hospital, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital and more than 80 outpatient clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Tulare and Ventura counties.

Keck Medical Center was ranked No. 16 on U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-20 Best Hospital Honor Roll and among the top 3 hospitals in Los Angeles and top 5 in California. The hospital also ranked in the top 4 in Urology (tie); top 10 in geriatrics; top 15 in ophthalmology, cardiology & heart surgery, gastroenterology & GI surgery and nephrology; top 20 in neurology & neurosurgery; top 25 in cancer; and top 35 in pulmonology & lung surgery.

For more information, visit KeckMedicine.org.

About Ridgecrest Regional Hospital

Ridgecrest Regional Hospital is a nonprofit, full service, acute care hospital, accredited by DNV Healthcare, with 980 employees. It is a 196 bed facility, including 25 inpatient and 125 Skilled Nursing Facility beds. Located in Ridgecrest, California, it was founded in 1945 by Dr. Thomas A. Drummond, who realized the need for medical care, to support the then recently established Naval Ordnance Test Station. Today, RRH continues as the only regional healthcare system providing a variety of services to the rural communities of the Southern Sierra. Our Vision is to be a leader with other healthcare providers in offering the highest quality, patient-centered, affordable healthcare and wellness services to the people of our service area.

The RRH health system offers multi-specialty healthcare and state-of-the-art facilities, including Gastroenterology Lab, Cardiology, Dermatology, Orthopedics, Pediatrics and an accredited Sleep Lab, to name a few. The hospital also offers a Cancer Center, as part of an ongoing oncology affiliation with UC Davis Health Cancer Care Network, and is one of only a number of hospitals across the country to install FDA-approved state-of-the-art automated breast screening ultrasound technology in the Women’s Imaging Department, clinically proven to increase cancer detection by 35.7 percent. The hospital has been awarded the ACR gold seal of accreditation in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, representing the highest level of image quality and patient safety and the Emergency Department has been designated by Kern County Public Health, as a Level IV trauma center, providing stabilization and advanced trauma life support.

Future plans include a new Emergency Room, new helipad for air ambulance services and the relocation of the Southern Sierra Medical Clinic has recently been completed. For more information, visit us at: rrh.org/ and Facebook.com/RidgecrestRegionalHospital.