UCI Medical Center Gets Funds for Seismic Redo

The University of California Board of Regents is expected to give UCI Medical Center $235 million today to help build a new hospital able to withstand a major earthquake.

UCI, which is the chief provider of trauma care and health services for the county’s indigent, needs a new building to comply with a 1994 state law requiring the closure by January 2008 of acute-care hospitals in danger of collapsing during an earthquake.

A study found that bringing the Orange medical center up to earthquake safety codes would cost as much as a new building.

Maureen Zehntner, chief operating officer of the medical center, said that the new construction, including a parking lot, will cost considerably more than the regents are allocating--about $373 million. UCI hopes to make up the difference with donations and additional state and federal funds. The money the regents will give the hospital can be used only to replace the existing 205 beds, not for expansion.

“This is a big vote of confidence for the medical center and how it turned around in the last five years,” Zehntner said, referring to a time the hospital was losing millions of dollars.

The new building would replace the 38-year-old main hospital and house most critical-care services, such as operating rooms and the burn and trauma units. A 107-bed tower complex built in 1982 that connects to the main hospital won’t be affected.

The existing building would remain open during construction. Medical center officials haven’t decided whether it will be demolished, at a cost of $15 million to $20 million, or converted into offices, which aren’t subject to the more stringent earthquake safety codes for hospitals.

The funding for UCI is part of a $600-million package regents are expected to approve that will bring the UC system’s five teaching hospitals into compliance with the law. UCI will receive the largest chunk of the funds, which will come from state lease revenue bonds.

UCLA’s hospitals in Westwood and Santa Monica suffered extensive damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake that will take about $900 million to fix. The money for them already has been allocated from a variety of university, state and private sources. In this round, regents would give UCLA $180 million.

UCI Medical Center has 4% of Orange County’s hospital beds but provides all the liver transplants, 50% of the trauma care and 55% of burn treatment in the region.

The hospital also is the linchpin for emergency care in central Orange County. As the only Level 1 trauma center in the county, it treats the most seriously injured patients. Paramedics bring in about 1,600 patients a year.

“If there were a large earthquake, as other hospitals are damaged, and with the huge numbers of people injured, to have a place [to take] severely injured patients is going to be crucial in making sure they survive,” said Dr. Bruce Haynes, medical director for emergency services for Orange County.

The medical center has battled back from financial problems over the last few years. In the 1995-96 fiscal year, it lost $8 million and once considered a partnership with a private firm. In the most recent fiscal year, it earned $13.2 million.

Plans for the new building are in the very early stages. It will be built north of the existing hospital on three acres occupied by a parking structure and administrative buildings. The new building will face Chapman Avenue. Plans call for construction to begin in February 2005 and be completed in January 2008.

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Hospital Transplant

UCI Medical Center in Orange plans to build a new 205-bed hospital by 2008 to replace the seismically-unsound existing trauma facility.

Source: UCI Medical Center