UC Panels OK $235 Million for Hospital

The University of California Board of Regents all but gave UC Irvine $235 million Wednesday to build a new hospital capable of withstanding a major earthquake, replacing the old facility.

The committees on grounds and buildings, finance and health services each approved the allocation. The full board of regents is expected to give final approval today. It is almost unheard of for the board to reverse a committee.

UCI Medical Center, 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 it would cost as much to retrofit the 205-bed hospital in Orange as it would to build a new one. A 107-bed tower built in 1982 that connects to the main hospital won’t be affected.

Medical center officials haven’t decided whether the 38-year-old hospital will be demolished or converted into offices.

The money the regents have allocated can be used only to build a replacement hospital, not for expansion. The new facility, which will include a parking lot, will cost about $373 million. UCI hopes to make up the difference with additional state and federal funds and private donations.

Plans for the new building are in the early stages. It will be built north of the current hospital on three acres now taken up by a parking structure and administrative buildings. Construction is supposed to begin in February 2005 and be completed in January 2008.

The California Department of Finance must give final approval for the state funding, which is expected early next year. The money will come from state lease-revenue bonds.

UCI Medical Center is the centerpiece of emergency care in central Orange County. It is the only Level 1 trauma center in the county, meaning it treats the most seriously injured people.

Doctors at the hospital perform all the liver transplants in the county, and the staff handles 50% of the trauma care and 55% of the burn care in the region.