Opportunity, Investment, Development

News Room


Hospital plans revamped to save money

By Carol Holmes - Tehachapi News
January 25, 2006

With the deadline looming to have the architectural design for the hospital finalized, the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board approved a final design last week that stays within the district?s financial abilities.
 
"If we build the building that was last presented to the board of directors in November, it is now projected that the cost will be in excess of $21 million," said Ray Hino, CEO for the TVHD. "We currently have approximately $16.4 million to spend on the project."
 
He said the $16.4 million includes a $15 million bond, $500,000 from a federal grant, $250,000 from the Guild of the Tehachapi Hospital, $400,000 from sale of land and approximately $200,000 from the hospital foundation.
 
Another $100,000 will come from Tower Investments, which pledged to give that amount for the construction of the hospital if the facility was built on the Broome site.
 
All the funding was considered when the TVHD building committee and board members Dr. Sam Conklin and Elizabeth Lask met on Jan. 11 with David Hitchcock and David Yarbrough of Aspen Street Architects to discuss cost reduction of constructing the hospital. Also present, as an observer, was board member Priscilla Mester.
 
During the meeting, several options were discussed, including moving the hospital to a flat piece on the 20-acre parcel and thereby making it a one-story instead of a two-story building. By having a one-story hospital, the cost of constructing stairs and bridges and installing elevators can be eliminated. Other cost-saving proposals recommended reducing the total number of patient rooms from 64 to 48.
 
While the original design incorporated the administration and conference rooms within the hospital, the new proposal places these rooms in a separate building. By putting these rooms in a building outside the hospital, they can be built to the less-costly union code, rather than Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) code.
 
Residents John and Sandy Hicks have been involved in reviewing the architectural design and have offered several suggestions to the committee. The reduction in the amount of patient rooms and the configuration to place the radiology and emergency rooms side by side were some of the recommendations offered by the Hicks and accepted by the building committee.
 
Other changes accepted by the board include access on both Voyager and Magellan Drives, instead of only on Voyager. This design allows for possible cost sharing with Broome to extend Voyager (west-side boundary), as well as cost sharing with Tower for developing Magellan (south-side boundary).
 
Besides the information about the new TVHD hospital and adjacent facilities, the board was informed of plans to construct three medical buildings near the hospital. The buildings would be constructed by Tower Investments and designed by Aspen Street so they blend with the architecture of the hospital.
 
In presenting the new design proposal to the board, Hino reminded its members that March is the deadline for the final design.
 
"We don't want to delay groundbreaking and the eventual occupying of the new building," Hino said.
 
Approval of the new architectural design was unanimously accepted by the board at their meeting on Jan.18.
 
Budget
 
Brian Doe, chief financial officer for the TVHD, reported that the hospital had a profit of $30,000 in December. That was better news than was reported for November when the hospital district had a net loss of $10,507.
 
Doe noted that the installation of an upgraded computer system, efforts to open a clinic in California City and decreased in-patient use of the hospital had contributed to the year-to-date negative balance in November of $131,096.
 
He said that the new computer system is now complete and that the district has met the requirements to open the Cal City clinic. Doe also said hospital administrators are encouraging doctors to keep some patients in the Tehachapi Hospital instead of always transferring them out.
 
"I feel good about the future," Doe said. "We need to continue to experience in-patient utilization."
 
Doe believes that opening the clinic in Cal City will bring added revenue.
 
"We can end the year on a positive note," he said.
 
Medical staff appointments
 
The TVHD board approved the following personnel for appointment to the medical staff: Dr. Love Dalal, internal medicine/gastroenterology; Dr. Jay Greenstein, emergency room medicine; Dr. Nasser Kahn, internal medicine/cardiology; Dr. Vilay Kumar Mohan, emergency medicine; Dr. Minh Nguyen, internal medicine; and Dr. Paul Singh, obstetrics/gynecology. They also approved the reappointment of Dr. Grant McNaughton, family practice.

Return to News List



Back To Top
Any property information listed is subject to change without notice.©2008 Tower Investments LLC All Rights Reserved.