East San Jose hospital adds more emergency beds

An East San Jose hospital continues to increase services under Santa Clara County’s ownership — including the latest expansion of its emergency department. This comes after the hospital faced years of divestment under a previous corporate owner.

The county has increased emergency beds at Regional Medical Center from 34 to 54 at a time when the need is greater than before, where every 11 minutes someone is transported to one of the county’s four public hospitals. The county channeled $17 million into construction at a time when federal budget cuts have forced its coffers to bleed.

More patients have streamed through the hospital’s doors since the county acquired it in 2025. The hospital’s emergency department sees about 80,000 patients a year — up 22% from before the county took over. Doctors also performed 46% more surgeries over the past year, according to statistics provided by the county.

“The county promised our East Side community that we would restore what was taken away and build something stronger in its place. And here we are today,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong, whose District 2 includes the hospital, said at a Wednesday news conference.

When Regional was previously under HCA Healthcare’s ownership, the hospital downgraded trauma, heart attack and stroke care and shuttered its maternity ward, leaving residents with sparser options for care.

As the only hospital in East San Jose, Regional serves some of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the city, including uninsured patients. The area has large immigrant, Latino and Asian populations who have called the East Side home for decades. The county’s 2025 Latino Health Assessment found that East Side residents have a high rate of emergency department visits due to domestic violence.

“We know that the East Side of San Jose has a large population (of) folks who are struggling, folks who need our services the most,” District 1 County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said at the news conference. “We are expanding our emergency capacity so that it meets the needs of our growing and diverse region.”

The county restored labor and delivery care at Regional Medical Center last October. The construction of the expanded emergency department had been in the county’s plans when it acquired the hospital. The wing of the building had previously been closed under HCA Healthcare. The county expects to eventually add more doctors and nurses to the hospital as patients increase.

Daniel Nelson, chair of emergency medicine at Valley Medical Center and chief operating officer at Emergency Physicians Associates, said this expansion will help decrease treatment time and provide a better patient experience.

“What this is going to allow is for us to bring those patients back into a room to further the treatment and decrease the time it takes for them to get all their testing done, get treatments, get a diagnosis and then get out of here,” Nelson told San José Spotlight.

Rachel Ruiz, pediatric gastroenterologist at Valley Medical Center and chair of Valley Physicians Group, said the influx of patients at Regional is due to several reasons. One is that county hospitals do not turn patients away regardless of insurance status. She also points to workers establishing a culture at county hospitals where patients are embraced, which was bolstered when longstanding nurses and doctors from other county hospitals were transferred to pioneer care at Regional.

“I think we succeeded in creating a welcoming environment,” Ruiz told San José Spotlight. “If you’ve had a good experience at Regional, you’re going to tell your friends, your community. But more importantly, if you can trust the care that you receive there … trust goes a long way in our communities.”

Allan Kamara, emergency department nurse at Valley Medical Center and president of the Registered Nurses Professional Association, said the growing demand for services at Regional is proof of why it was necessary for the county to acquire the hospital. He said the expansion is just the first step.

“East San Jose residents deserve access to excellent care in their own community, especially emergency and trauma services where every minute matters,” Kamara told San José Spotlight. “Preserving the hospital was an essential first step. We must now ensure that there are enough nurses and other healthcare professionals at the bedside to safely care for the growing number of patients who depend on Regional.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.