Highland Hospital, Oakland
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has approved a $431 million contract with Clark Design/Build of California for the construction of a replacement facility for Highland Hospital, the Oakland Tribune reports.
Construction on the project is slated to begin this year and wrap up in 2017 (Metinko, Oakland Tribune, 11/5).
Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles
On Thursday, Kaiser Permanente announced plans for a new medical office complex in South Los Angeles where 80,000 Kaiser members live, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Construction on the 15,000 square-foot is scheduled to begin soon so that the facility can open in 2011 (Gold, Los Angeles Times, 11/6).
John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Indio
On Oct. 16, John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital filed a lawsuit in Riverside County Superior Court alleging that the California Environmental Quality Act was violated when a proposed specialty hospital project was approved on Sept. 16, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reports.
The lawsuit stems from the Indio City Council's decision to deny an appeal by JFK Memorial and uphold the Indio Planning Commission's approval of the 29,000-square-foot, 12-bed specialty hospital. The lawsuits names as defendants:
- The city of Indio;
- The Indio City Council; and
- The Joint Replacement Hospitals of America.
In its lawsuit, JFK Memorial requested an injunction to suspend construction on the project until an environmental review can be completed. The suit also seeks attorney fees and costs (Peña, Palm Springs Desert Sun, 10/28).
March LifeCare, Riverside
On Nov. 4, the March Joint Powers Authority planning commission voted 6-2 to approve the construction of March LifeCare, a 3.5-million-square-foot medical complex at March Air Reserve Base, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The project is projected to create about 14,000 jobs and have a $2 billion economic impact on the area over a decade.
The JPA planning commission's recommendation will now go to the JPA commission, which has the same membership, to determine whether the project will move forward.
The next commission meeting is Nov. 18 (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 11/4).
UC-Davis Medical Center, Sacramento
On Thursday, the California Nurses Association labor union filed a formal complaint with the Department of Public Health alleging that UC-Davis Medical Center is not complying with state nurse staffing rules, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The complaint asserts that a March 2009 review of hospital staffing levels indicates that the hospital was not in compliance with the rules 39% of the time.
Robert Hulteng, a San Francisco attorney representing UC in contract talks with the union, welcomed the state investigation (Calvan, Sacramento Bee, 11/6).