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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡
“Cedars-Sinai today announced a partnership with the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games to serve as the Official Medical Provider for the 2028 Games, providing the highest-quality care for athletes, coaches, team personnel and visitors who travel across the world for the competitions in Los Angeles.
“Cedars-Sinai will be a critical resource and medical adviser to LA28 in establishing medical services in the Olympic and Paralympic village and at sporting venues for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Thursday’s announcement is a key development for the LA28 organizers, not only as its fifth “Official Supporter” in its fourth tier of commercial partners, but also from an operating standpoint.
● Cedars-Sinai joins Autodesk, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Guild and Hershey as “Official Supporters,” behind Founding Partners Comcast and Delta, Official Ticketing Providers AXS and Eventim and Official Hospitality Provider On Location, and Official Sponsors Cisco and Lilly.
● Perhaps even more important is the Cedars-Sinai will play in the development and provision of medical services during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Both Games will require many doctors, nurses and support staff to support the venues, training sites and the Olympic Village at UCLA.
In its Fiscal 2023 Community Benefit Plan, the Cedars-Sinai organization included:
● 2,847 physicians on staff
● 4,460 nurses on staff
● 15,245 full-time staff
The relationship with Cedars-Sinai will give the LA28 organizers a solid foundation in the creation, coordination, recruitment and operating program of its medical services, as well as a wealth of knowledge and support to assist visiting physicians from foreign teams who will come to the U.S. for pre-Olympic events and for the Games in 2028.
The importance of this, as the basis for the entire medical-support program, cannot be underestimated, to the LA28 organizers and for the confidence it will bring to the visiting National Olympic Committee and the International Federations.
The Cedars-Sinai footprint is also important, noted in the Community Benefit Plan as:
“The system includes Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital, a network of physicians and ambulatory services at more than 250 locations throughout Southern California, and affiliates Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Huntington Health and Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center.”
Also important: Cedars-Sinai is one of nine medical institutions in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Medical Network, and the involvement of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee is also crucial. California Business & Professions Code sec. 2076.5, adopted in 1997 as a follow-up to legislation for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles specifies:
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a physician and surgeon lawfully practicing medicine in another state or country may be exempted from licensure while practicing medicine in this state under the following conditions:
“(1) The physician and surgeon has been invited by the United States Olympic Committee to provide medical services at training sites designated by the olympic training center or to provide medical services at an event in this state sanctioned by the committee.”
Cedars-Sinai is already the exclusive provider to the USOPC for Los Angeles and Southern California for the USOPC Medical Network and will be a key player in working with National Olympic Committees to coordinate medical support for events up to and during the Games.
Cedars-Sinai will not be in charge of the doping control program for the 2028 Games, as the International Olympic Committee has entrusted its anti-doping testing program to the International Testing Agency, which performed this role in Paris this summer.
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