California’s General Acute-Care Hospital Seismic Retrofit Program (SB 1953) aims to enhance the survivability during a seismic event of a hospital’s life safety components, both structural and nonstructural, making these buildings the safest in the state. The goal is that the hospital will still be standing after an earthquake, the patients and medical staff personnel will be safe, and the hospital will be able to continue serving their communities with uninterrupted access to health care. With compliance phases extended to 2025 and 2030, taking a holistic approach to the upgrades required or full replacement impacts is essential for meeting the code requirements to keep acute care hospitals operational. Any hospital building classified that fails to meet these required upgrades will be forced to cease patient services. As patient care is vital to California’s population, these facilities should prioritize the availability of patient care.

According to a 2019 study by the RAND Corporation, the seismic upgrades needed to bring all general acute care hospitals in compliance with the 2030 requirements may cost as much as $143 billion ($176 billion in 2025 dollars, $199 billion in 2030 dollars). With billions of dollars at stake and patient access to care being risked, OCMI is your go-to cost management estimating firm supporting owners and A/E firms through providing cost certainty at early design stages and arming key project stakeholders with information to make informed decisions.

Explore OCMI’s HCAI 2030 Guide for a comprehensive view of the risks, uncertainties, and strategies to mitigate from the lens of a 3rd party cost manager.

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