California lawmakers passed tighter building code standards for hospitals in 1973 and expanded them after more hospitals were damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, according to an article on the Desert Sun website.
Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs is fully compliant under the law today. But in 2030, the hospital will need to meet a higher standard.
More than one-third of the acute care hospital beds are in older buildings that will not be able to contain those beds unless they are upgraded by that date.
The Desert Healthcare District and Tenet Healthcare, the two entities that share control of the hospital, can’t agree on who should pay for any potential renovations.
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