California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of August 2, 2013
Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland
Last week, Oakland launched a draft environmental impact review of Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland's $450 million project to expand the facility from 170 to 210 beds and add nearly 300 parking spaces, the San Francisco Business Times' "Bay Area BizTalk" reports.
Phase one of the project -- which is scheduled to take 42 months -- includes the construction of a six-story outpatient center and several internal renovations, among other changes.
The city is soliciting public comments on the project through Aug. 28 (Rauber, "Bay Area BizTalk," San Francisco Business Times, 7/26).
Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center is undergoing a $30 million to $40 million renovation and expansion project that includes three additional medical buildings and a new parking garage, the Sacramento Bee reports.
A new rehabilitation facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of August, while a 16-bed, 12,000 square-foot mental health services facility is slated to be finished by January 2014 (Newsham, Sacramento Bee, 7/27).
San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco General Hospital officials say that the facility's electronic referral system has reduced patients' wait times for specialist care by 50%, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The program allows general practitioners and specialists to use health information technology for communicating about a patient, as well as for scheduling appointments or requesting additional information or tests.
The program currently is installed at more than 40 specialty clinics and another 20 primary care community clinics under the hospital's purview (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/23).
Sunnyvale Medical Center, San Francisco
On Aug. 5, Palo Alto Medical Foundation -- a unit of Sutter Health -- will open a 120,000 square-foot medical center that will include 170 exam rooms, the San Francisco Business Times' "Bay Area BizTalk" reports.
Sunnyvale Medical Center will house a primary care center, a cancer care center, an OB-GYN department and a pediatric department, among other features (Rauber, "Bay Area BizTalk," San Francisco Business Times, 7/26).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.