hospital construction

Two high-ranking senators say new specialty hospitals may be opening despite the current moratorium on new facilities. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT) say they have evidence that new hospitals have opened and want HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt to order an investigation. They also want a government study of the overall quality of specialty programs. Last year the two politicians introduced legislation that extended the moratorium on new specialty hospital construction.

- read this article from Modern Healthcare

The current hospital boom is the "biggest in half a century" and likely to continue for the next four years. New hospital construction is at an all-time high, according to USA Today. According to Census Bureau data, the industry has spent in the area of $100 billion on new construction over the past five years. Spending is projected to hit a record $23.7 billion in 2006.

The newspaper examines the boom in the construction of new high-tech facilities in major metropolitan …

The Kasier Foundation Health Plan and the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals reported an operating margin for the third quarter of 2.5 percent. That's down quite a bit from last year when Kaiser's margin was 6.5 percent. The non-profit healthcare system reported its membership is up 151,000 for the year to date, giving it a current membership base of 8.4 million. Chairman and CEO George Halverson said the company's financial success will allow it to complete ongoing hospital construction …

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> The …

The California Senate voted yesterday to give the state's hospitals another 12 years to comply with regulations intended to make sure their buildings are strong enough to withstand major earthquakes. Lawmakers passed tough new rules on hospital construction after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The California Hospital Association, which backed legislation in favor of the extension in the Senate, has argued that the strict retrofitting rules pose a hardship for many hospitals and said they …