Antioch Planning Commissioners Approve Plan for Kaiser Permanente Hospital

Antioch planning commissioners last week voted unanimously to approve Kaiser Permanente's plans to build a 150-bed hospital in southeast Antioch, marking the first step in the approval process for the facility, the Contra Costa Times reports (Coetsee, Contra Costa Times, 1/23). Kaiser in May 2003 announced plans to begin construction this year on a 150-bed hospital at Kaiser Antioch Medical Center. The hospital, which is slated to open in 2007, would have eight delivery rooms, an emergency department, imaging services and 12 operating rooms for inpatient and ambulatory services (California Healthline, 5/7/03). The 340,000-square-foot facility would be built adjacent to the newly constructed Kaiser Permanente medical offices that opened last September. The medical offices and hospital would provide cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, head and neck surgery, chemotherapy and colonoscopy services to the estimated 108,000 Kaiser Permanente members in East Contra Costa County. The Antioch design review board on Jan. 28 is expected to review the aesthetic design of the $300 million project, and the Antioch City Council is expected to decide whether to grant final approval to the project as early as Feb. 10. Hospital construction could begin by 2005 if the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development approves the project within the next 12 months (Contra Costa Times, 1/23).