Advancing the Integration of BCH Oakland & UCSF Health
Update about the transition of BCH Oakland staff to the University of California provided by UCSF Health President and CEO Suresh Gunasekaran and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals President Nicholas Holmes.
Dear Colleagues,
Over a decade ago, UCSF joined forces with Children’s Hospital Oakland to pursue a shared vision of building one of the nation’s leading pediatric health systems. Since then, our affiliation has led to remarkable progress, expanding access to world-class care for children from all backgrounds.
Today, we’re excited to share a major step in our journey: advancing the integration of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and UCSF Health’s systems, infrastructure, and workforce.
On July 1, 2025, all BCH Oakland staff will transition their employment to the University of California (UC). There will be no layoffs or reduction in base pay as a result of this transition. Personalized details regarding job titles, compensation, and benefits will be provided within 60–90 days.
Over the coming months, we will also focus on aligning key systems and processes to remove barriers, enhance care delivery, and support our teams.
For Our Patients & Our People
At the heart of this decision is our unwavering commitment to our patients and our team. It’s become clear that to maximize our impact, aligning clinical programs and workflows is essential—and a unified workforce is key to achieving this goal.
By integrating tools, protocols, and infrastructure, we’ll make it easier for children and their families to access the care they need in Oakland. A unified, more efficient system will enable every patient we serve to receive seamless, equitable care, no matter where they enter the BCH network.
For our employees, this is an opportunity to strengthen the shared culture we’ve built, deepen our collective sense of belonging, and expand our impact. Transitioning to UCSF job titles will establish consistent pathways for growth and reduce everyday challenges. Unified tools, training, and support systems will enhance flexibility to best support our patients wherever they are, improve collaboration, and make cross-Bay care more effective.
Importantly, BCH Oakland will remain a freestanding safety net hospital and certified Level 1 trauma center. The medical staff will remain open, continuing the collaborative excellence of our faculty and community providers.
Why Now is the Right Time
This is the culmination of years of planning and deliberate steps toward fulfilling the original intent of our affiliation—empowering UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals to realize its full potential as a provider and employer of choice. While we initially maintained separate structures to ease BCH Oakland’s transition into UCSF Health, those differences now limit our ability to provide seamless care and best support our teams.
Although many programs and services at our Oakland and San Francisco campuses are already aligned, removing the remaining structural and operational barriers and uniting as one team is essential to serve our patients more effectively.
Advancing integration is also key to unlocking the full potential of Oakland’s new hospital—where patients receive exceptional care, employees thrive, and our $1.6 billion investment delivers maximum impact. It will also accelerate the availability of more complementary pediatric services in the East Bay well before the hospital opens.
What Happens Next
Teams across UCSF Health and BCH are already hard at work planning for the transition. We will provide regular updates about what’s changing and when, what’s not changing, and how we’ll support our people and our patients every step of the way.
While each hospital’s unique strengths have shaped our excellence, it’s by coming together fully that we’ll have the greatest impact on the health of children and their families—and create more support, collaboration, and opportunity for our teams. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.
Thank you for everything you do for our patients and each other.
Sincerely,
Suresh Gunasekaran
President & CEO, UCSF Health
Nicholas Holmes, MD, MBA
President, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
Senior Vice President, Children’s Services, UCSF Health
Questions about this article? Contact Office of The Chancellor