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Article: Hospitals prepare for seismic upgrades
- Article from:
- Oakland Tribune
- Article date:
- February 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Oakland Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Bay Area hospitals are spending billions of dollars on new
facilities to meet fast-approaching seismic safety rules, and many
are getting a reprieve on a 2008 deadline because of massive
construction efforts.
"There's no question that the cost for seismic upgrades is hugely
expensive," said Bob Eisenman, director of strategy for Kaiser
Permanente.
On Wednesday, Tenet Health Systems announced it was pulling out of
19 California hospitals -- including Doctors Medical Center in San
Pablo -- in part because seismic upgrades to those facilities would
total $1.6 billion.
But the cost can be much larger. Kaiser Permanente and Sutter
Health put total costs to become earthquake-safe at $4 billion ...