Scripps Health and Sistemas Medicos Nacionales S.A. de C.V. (SIMNSA) recently announced they are partnering to build a hospital in Tijuana aimed at serving the health care needs of the growing binational community along the U.S. – Mexico border.

Scripps will provide consultative services to SIMNSA for the hospital’s planning, construction and operation, which SIMNSA will design, build and manage to achieve the standards of the Joint Commission International Accreditation (JCI). The JCI-accredited hospital will be co-branded as an affiliate of the Scripps Health Network as part of the arrangement.

This marks the first binational collaboration on a hospital built to serve patients from both sides of the border.

“We live in a binational region where thousands of people cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana daily for work. Access to high quality health care on both sides of the border is important for our regional economy,” said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health.  “We have been looking for opportunities to expand the Scripps Health Network and our agreement with SIMNSA is the perfect way to do so in Mexico.”

The hospital will be built in phases. The first phase, anticipated to be completed by early 2017, will consist of an emergency room with four operating rooms, an intensive care unit and 30 inpatient rooms. Upon completion of the project, the hospital will have 200 beds, making it the largest hospital in the state of Baja California. The hospital will be fully equipped to meet the needs for emergency, cardiology, neurosurgery, oncology and labor and delivery. The affiliation will be governed by a joint operating committee composed of members from both companies.