New Law Gives Tarzana Hospital Time for Retrofit

A new law will allow Providence Tarzana Medical Center to request an additional extension from the California Hospital Seismic Safety Act. The extension was granted with the passage of Assembly Bill 908, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry brown on Sept. 28. The new law will allow the Tarzana hospital to request an extension until October of 2022. Under the existing California Hospital Seismic Safety Law, a general acute care hospital building that is determined to be at risk in the event of an earthquake can only be used for nonacute care purposes unless an extension is provided. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has the authority to grant a hospital a five- year extension, and an additional extension of up to seven years. Tarzana hospital is currently in the process of upgrading its facilities. However, the completion of the facility will fall beyond its current seismic deadline of 2020. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, (D-Encino), would allow certainty for the hospital in the meantime. “Providence Tarzana Medical Center extends its gratitude to the California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown for passage of Assembly Bill 908,” the hospital said in a statement to the Business Journal. “The measure allows the hospital to move forward with a $540 million expansion and renovation plan that includes a new state-of-the-art patient wing and the retrofitting of the existing hospital, with minimal patient disruption.”