HMC Healthcare News sat down with Seton Medical Center CEO Lorraine Auerbach to better understand their challenges and how they’re being addressed to move forward with the $360 million seismic rebuild of their Daly City, Calif., hospital.
Seton Medical Center is taking steps to plan and design a $360 million seismic rebuild of their Daly City, Calif., hospital. Owned by the Daughters of Charity Health System, the new 192-bed inpatient tower will open by January 1, 2020, thereby complying with state seismic requirements. HMC Healthcare News sat down with CEO Lorraine Auerbach to better understand their challenges and how they’re being addressed to move forward with new development.
How did State legislation SB1953 (seismic standards) and SB 306 drive the need for a replacement hospital, and how did Daughters of Charity Health System respond to the legislation?
As a mission based not-for-profit medical center, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring we have a safe and seismically compliant facility that protects all of our patients, physicians, and staff. Consistent with state regulations, Seton Medical Center and the Daughters of Charity Health System continue to press forward with our efforts to meet the 2020 seismic deadline as required by the State of California. Seton and Daughters of Charity were among several California hospitals and health systems that previously advocated for an extension to meet the State of California seismic retrofit requirements. Seton along with other California hospitals was granted that extension and thus must complete construction of our new inpatient tower by 2020.
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How will this replacement hospital affect your position in the marketplace?
For nearly a century, Seton Medical Center and the Daughters of Charity have served the people of the San Francisco Bay Area by providing high quality care. The replacement hospital will enable our healthcare ministry to continue its longstanding mission of extending the healing ministry of Jesus to any member of our community who turns to us for care. The new facility will help us continue to meet our commitment to providing innovative technology and heartfelt care.
What challenges did you face in putting your team together?
Healthcare is a highly competitive and complex environment these days. Attracting the best and brightest talent has always been fundamental to Seton and the Daughter’s of Charity. I was looking for a unique combination of world-class design but with practical, down-to-earth ability. This is a challenging project because it is an iconic site that requires a great design and with limited funding. We also wanted to do a collaborative process putting the hospital team, the project management team, and the contractor together so planning and concept are done collaboratively and cost effectively from the beginning.
How will the new building respond to meet your operational challenges?
Seton has undergone organizational restructuring in recent years to not only help us staff for the right size of patient volume, but also to operate as efficiently as possible. As a not-for-profit, mission-based hospital and health system, Seton and the Daughters remain committed to being the best stewards possible of the limited resources entrusted to us by our community. The new building will improve operational efficiency, increase awareness of Seton and its services, and introduce many new innovative and impressive healthcare technologies to the people of the San Francisco Bay Area.
What impact on the local community will this project serve?
The simplest and easiest response is continual focus on improving the quality of care to the people of our area. Not only will our community benefit from the improvement in the quality care offered, but it will also help fuel our local economy by providing new jobs and resources to local residents during a difficult economic time.
