PACE Program

• Before making your referral, you will need to determine if your organization will be PACE’s primary client or if the referred participant will be PACE’s primary client.
  • If the referring entity is the primary client, PACE will work with your organization to establish a contract. The contract will make you a key part of the process and protect any information shared between PACE and your organization under Peer Review Law (CA evidence code 1157). The final report and recommendations will be sent to you and will not be shared with the participant without your written consent.
    • If you choose this option, please contact Mr. Kaden Segren, Administrative Director of Assessment, via phone or email to begin the process.
  • If the referred physician is PACE’s primary client, establishing a contract is not necessary. Our communication throughout the process will be with the participant directly, and they will receive our final report. It is important to note that when the participant is our primary client, we will not provide any details about their evaluation or share our final report with anyone else (including your organization) without their written consent. Participants can provide consent on our application.
    • If you choose this option, you can either download a copy of our application (link PDF) and send it to the referred physician or refer them to the application on our website.
  • Regardless of which of the options above is selected, we encourage referrers to provide written notification to referred physicians outlining specific requirements. We will also ask all referrers to provide us with background information.

• A competency assessment should be considered whenever there are concerns about a physician’s knowledge, clinical skills, or ability to provide safe patient care.
• Re-entry: If a provider has been away from practice for an extended period and needs to demonstrate competence before returning to the workforce.

• This will be determined by the referring organization and may vary depending on circumstances. Some organizations choose to pay for the evaluation and others require the referred participant to pay.

• Yes, this is possible.

• PACE will provide a copy of the final report to whoever is established as our primary client; the primary client can provide consent for PACE to share the final report with others, but it will not be shared with anyone else without explicit written consent.

• No, referred participants and the assessment results are completely confidential and will only be provided to the referring entity and/or the participant (depending on who is established as the primary client – see above for details).

• Due to the customization of our process, the timelines can vary; however, the final report is typically completed 6-8 weeks after completion of all elements of the assessment, and approximately 10-14 weeks from the receipt of application.

The UC San Diego PACE Program has over 26 years of experience in physician assessment. PACE was one of the first programs of its kind established in the United States, continues to be a leader in the field, and works effectively with state medical boards, hospitals, medical groups, insurance providers, and others.

We have the resources and expertise to assess a wide variety of medical specialties because we are part of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, a top-tier academic center. Furthermore, we work directly with the UC San Diego Center for the Future of Surgery, one of the largest and most comprehensive surgical simulation facilities in the world. The CFS Simulation ORs are equipped with the latest surgical, laparoscopic, robotic, endoscopic, and other developing technologies. This collaboration allows us to offer high-fidelity simulations of many highly specialized procedures.

• In order to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, PACE tries to make general recommendations that can be accomplished through different routes. However, we do offer several remedial CME courses and can, at times, offer customized assistance upon request.