The region's soaring population is spurring a need for additional hospital services, according to an economics expert at the University of Southern California. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have about 4 million people and are expected to grow by 100,000 people a year for the next 10 years, said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Forecast through Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. Local hospitals, doctors and officials are responding by constructing and planning new hospitals and expanded medical centers. The Inland Empire has 192 hospital projects under way totaling $287 million, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The High Desert is in need of high-level medical care, according to a newly formed committee of city officials.
