Kaiser Permanente launches new state-of-the-art hospital in Downey

Sep 16 2009

Kaiser Permanente has opened a new state-of-the-art 352-bed hospital in Downey, which will provide high-quality, personal, and affordable healthcare in Southeast Los Angeles County for many years into the future. The $390 million Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center is located near the northwest corner of the intersection of Imperial Highway and Bellflower Boulevard, situated close to Kaiser Permanente’s outpatient Garden and Orchard Medical Office Buildings.

The full-service hospital will largely replace Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower Medical Center, located approximately one-mile to the south, which opened 44 years ago in 1965. “Healthcare has changed a great deal since 1965, the year Medicare was signed into law,” said Jane Finley, the executive director of Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center. “Change will continue, and we want to continue to help keep this community healthy. Kaiser Permanente is ensuring that our nearly 300,000 local members have outstanding immediate and preventive healthcare today and in the future.”

Over 95 percent of the Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center hospital beds are in family-friendly private rooms featuring pull-out beds for overnight stays. It is also equipped to handle the over 3,400 annual births that were typical at the former hospital in Bellflower. The new hospital has 18 private birthing and recovery suites and one of the region’s largest and most advanced neonatal intensive care units (49 beds, California Children’s Services certified level III NICU).

The six-story facility meets stringent state seismic requirements, which will allow it to continue providing its services to the surrounding communities in the event of an earthquake. The new hospital has a full-service emergency department and a 24-hour pharmacy. It includes a variety of environmentally-friendly features such as large windows to allow for an abundance of natural light and thereby reduce the dependence on artificial lighting, carpeting made from recycled materials, use of 100 percent of fresh air and no recirculation, and paint made from non-toxic materials.

“We have advanced medical technologies such as digital radiology and operating rooms equipped with high-definition cameras,” said medical director Binesh Batra, M.D. The hospital fully incorporates Kaiser Permanente’s industry-leading electronic health record (EHR) system called KP HealthConnect, which eliminates the need for hard copy patient charts and film and is the largest privately held EHR system in the nation. Dr. Batra added, “This system will allow physicians to access patient records from any office within the hospital or from any of the nine outpatient medical offices in the surrounding communities that are part of the Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center. KP HealthConnect provides connectivity in an easy and convenient way.”

The hospital is the latest in a series of Kaiser Permanente facilities that have opened in the last several years as the organization has committed billions of dollars to upgrade its many offices and service-delivery components. “Our proactive efforts to be on the cutting edge of the industry are being recognized,” said Jeffrey A. Weisz, M.D., executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “Last year, our Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center was named one of 26 ‘top hospitals’ -- in a national rating of over 1,200 hospitals -- by the Leapfrog Group, which runs one of the nation’s premier hospital quality and patient safety evaluation programs. The doctors and nurses who won that award will bring that same expertise to our new Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center.”

Benjamin Chu, M.D., president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said, “As the debate on healthcare reform continues, people are more and more taking note of the effectiveness of Kaiser Permanente’s integrated healthcare system. Many experts across the nation are marveling at our model of preventive care and quality delivery, which we will continue to provide to our treasured members in Downey and the surrounding community.”