UC Davis kicks off $3.74 billion expansion with new patient tower
Officials said a new 14-story tower and five-story pavilion will deliver better care and help the facility adapt to change.
Photo courtesy of UC Davis Health
Sacramento, California-based UC Davis Medical Center held a groundbreaking ceremony recently to kick off a $3.74 billion expansion that includes the 14-story California Tower, as well as a new five-story pavilion.
Hospital officials said the tower and pavilion will deliver better care and help the facility adapt to the evolving needs of the community.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The California Tower, approved by the UC Board of Regents in January 2022, will add nearly one million square feet of space to the eastern side of the existing medical center. It will include new operating rooms, an imaging center, facilities for pharmacy and burn care units and about 334 private rooms for patients.
More than 250 of the rooms are being designed for greater flexibility in the event of a patient surge such as a pandemic, massive wildfire or other disaster. According to UC Davis, these will easily convert into intensive care unit rooms with air isolation to treat patients at any level of hospitalization.
The $3.74 billion tower – slated to open in 2030 – will replace parts of the hospital that have to close due to state seismic regulations. Hospitals across California are currently in the process of upgrading their existing facilities or constructing new buildings that can withstand major earthquakes.
The current, 646-bed hospital – the largest in the Sacramento area – will have a total of 675 to 700 inpatient beds when the project is completed.
THE LARGER TREND
UC Davis expects the project to create hundreds of construction jobs and thousands of new healthcare positions.
The hospital added that it plans to help fuel the economic health and overall wellbeing of the neighborhoods surrounding its Sacramento campus by hiring and developing local workforce talent, purchasing more goods and services from local vendors, investing in local projects that support vulnerable communities, and engaging employees to volunteer in local neighborhoods.
ON THE RECORD
"With the California Tower, we are building a new paradigm of patient care, centered around how a health system can deliver tomorrow's healthcare today," said David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health. "We are building into this new tower some of the lessons we learned from the recent pandemic. As an example, three out of four of the rooms in this new tower can be easily converted to fully functional ICUs if needed, tripling our ICU capacity."
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
