The New SMCSR

A Healthy Future for Our Community

Current plans anticipate opening the new Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa on Sutter owned property located north of the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (Wells Fargo site) in 2014. Sutter anticipates offering the full range of services currently provided at the Chanate Campus including: intensive care; emergency services; obstetrics, nursery care and level III neonatal intensive care; medical and surgical services; invasive cardiac surgery; supporting ancillary services; and a full range of women’s reproductive health services.

Recent Project News

6/10/2010 - On June 10, 2010, SMCSR submitted a plan to Sonoma County’s Department of Health Services to create a more robust SMCSR hospital by combining the Physicians Medical Center (PMC) and new SMCSR hospital planned for the Wells Fargo Campus. The medical campus as originally envisioned planned for these two acute care hospitals to be built side by side. The combined hospital plan submitted today supports Sutter’s vision for building a modern hospital design to provide flexibility and efficiency to adapt to future changes in health care delivery. The combined hospital is slightly smaller than the original medical campus with SMCSR and the PMC as separate buildings.

5/27/2010 - By unanimous vote, the Planning Commission recommended approval to the Board of Supervisors for the new hospital project and certification of the Environmental Impact Report. This summer, the Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings and make a final decision on the new hospital project.

All Private Patient Rooms

Hospital Designed for Future Demand

The new SMCSR is appropriately sized to meet current and future SMCSR patient needs. SMCSR currently operates with a significantly lower average daily patient count than in 2002. The adoption of new technology, pharmaceutical treatments and the use of minimally invasive surgical technologies now performed on an outpatient basis or with a shorter hospitalization, have all contributed to a decreasing need nationally for inpatient beds. SMCSR health care planning experts included population aging projections, SMCSR’s significantly decreased demand trends, and future population projections in their analysis when determining the appropriate size of the new hospital.

A Safe and Healthy Future

SMCSR is located today on Chanate Road in the buildings that made up the former Community Hospital. The main building was built 73 years ago. SMCSR is building a hospital to replace the Chanate facility because under State Law, all California hospital buildings must be built or retrofitted to meet current seismic safety laws by the state deadline or close. SMCSR explored retrofitting the aging hospital buildings and determined retrofitting the hospital was not feasible.

All Sonoma County hospitals are required to care for our community’s indigent, uninsured and Medi-Cal patients who visit the Emergency Room. However, SMCSR treats far more patients as a percentage of its patient mix than any other hospital. Based on the state deadline, SMCSR must be under construction by the end of 2010 for SMCSR to remain open and serving Sonoma County past December 31, 2012.

The new SMCSR medical campus planned for the Wells Fargo site, will be a modern hospital built to the current seismic safety law building standards to ensure that our community has medical facilities available in case of an earthquake disaster.

The new SMCSR hospital plans to relocate the full range of service available today which includes all services required under the Health Care Access Agreement (HCAA) with the County of Sonoma as well as invasive cardiology, surgery, outpatient and imaging services from the aging Chanate Campus to the Wells Fargo site.

This new SMCSR hospital will anchor the medical campus and is designed with 82 licensed beds, 10 labor and delivery rooms and 24 universal care stations. The SMCSR hospital incorporates advanced technology, modern hospital design, green building practices, and current seismic construction standards. All adult patient rooms are private to maximize comfort and privacy for each patient and their family. The SMCSR hospital includes a 12 bay emergency department and a 24 station Universal Care Unit (UCU). The UCU is an advanced concept in acute care hospital design which expands the Emergency Department and Medical/Surgical operational capacities.

The second building planned for the medical campus is a Medical Office Building which will house Sutter Medical Foundation North Bay physician offices, SMCSR administrative and support services. The entire medical campus will be connected through Sutter’s electronic health record which will enable patients to have coordinated medical care between their Sutter physicians and any services needed at the SMCSR hospital.

Economic Impact of Sutter Health in Sonoma County

Sutter is the fourth largest employer in Sonoma County. Sutter Health organizations stimulate economic growth and provide well-paid jobs. Sutter employees contribute over $260,000,000 to the local economy. Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa (SMCSR) and Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation (SPMF) spend over $40,000,000 annually, right here in Sonoma County, for goods, supplies and services. Sutter Health will invest $284 million on the new SMCSR which will create hundreds of construction jobs, generate significant revenue into the local economy.

We Need Your Help

SMCSR submitted to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors a new business plan, specifying how all the requirements of the HCAA will be met and detailing the plans for building a seismically safe, appropriately sized, new SMCSR hospital. This summer, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings on the approval of SMCSR’s new business plan and hospital.

We need your support. Please add your support and help encourage the Board of Supervisors to approve this hospital project, and promote our community’s safe and healthy future.