Health systems across the Bay Area are racing to rebuild, retrofit or replace aging hospitals before a 2030 state deadline that requires medical centers not just to survive a major earthquake, but to keep treating patients after one.
In 2030, California state health regulators will enforce stricter rules for structural integrity and resilience at hospitals. The rules were passed in the 1990s. With less than four years until the deadline, hospital executives are in construction mode with new hospitals in planning phases or already in construction, and retrofits are underway across medical campuses.
“Every major healthcare provider in Northern California is doing something as it relates to seismic upgrade,” said Nick Palumbo, a healthcare project executive for the construction company Swinerton…