New Patient Tower Centerpiece of $215M Hospital Expansion

LOS ANGELES—Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center has announced plans for a new 150,000-square-foot patient tower on its downtown campus here designed to enhance the hospital’s capacity and accessibility for emergency, trauma and maternity services.

Hospital officials say the new tower will be a part of a planned $215-million campus expansion and modernization effort. Construction on the new patient tower is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2019.

“The new patient care tower is vitally important in helping us continue our mission and tradition of serving our unique patient populations and creating healthier communities,” says CHMC president Margaret R. Peterson, Ph.D. “This expansion, fueled by the latest in technology and innovation, will also enable us to attract top-level talent, plus accept more medical residents and nursing students, strengthening CHMC’s role as a major regional teaching hospital.”

The campus expansion will be funded through a $40-million investment from Dignity Health, a loan of up to $125 million secured by Dignity Health, and a capital campaign seeking a local philanthropic investment of $50 million.

The first floor of the new tower will house larger, state-of-the-art emergency and trauma departments including a 60% increase in the number of beds. CHMC currently operates the busiest private trauma center in Los Angeles, and last year its emergency department saw 85,000 patients in a space equipped to accommodate 55,000 visits. San Francisco-based Dignity Health states that the new emergency room will streamline triage to evaluate patients more efficiently and effectively while providing dedicated space for trauma care with six large bays accommodating the most advanced equipment along with an imaging suite equipped with a CT scanner and other radiology equipment.

The new tower will also house an enhanced neonatal intensive care unit, labor and delivery, and postpartum services. The tower will feature private rooms and open rooms to accommodate multiple births, private postpartum rooms permitting family to stay with moms and babies overnight, private triage rooms where moms-to-be can be evaluated and cared for, and separate antepartum rooms providing comfort for patients who need close monitoring prior to delivery.

The top floor of the new tower will be reserved for future expansion. Additionally, the hospital’s campus expansion will include a new pediatrics unit on the sixth floor of the existing Tibbitts Tower, an emergency mental health observation center adjacent to the new ER and a new multi-level parking structure with meeting and retail space on the ground floor.

“As the only hospital located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, California Hospital Medical Center is uniquely positioned to care for a very diverse and underserved population, but the unprecedented growth and transformation of our service area has put tremendous demands on our major service lines,” states Peterson. “The new tower will multiply and modernize our capabilities, helping to improve the health and well-being for all of downtown L.A. through improved efficiency, advanced technology and the power of human kindness.”