Regional Expansion Project
Not an actual rendering; plans will be developed in the future.
Barton Health: Rooted In Community Service
Furthering its mission of improving community health and well-being, the Barton Health Regional Expansion Project will broaden regional medical services and allow for continued delivery of high-quality health care across the South Shore.
- Community Health Leader - Established in 1963 by forward-thinking residents concerned about the feasibility of traveling over mountain passes to receive urgent and routine medical care.
- Steadfast Mission - Throughout the decades, our mission has remained: to deliver safe, high-quality care and engage the community in the improvement of health and wellness.
- Local Commitment - Barton is dedicated to its responsibility to remain viable and capable of providing local health care in Lake Tahoe's South Shore for the next 60 years.
California 2030 Seismic Regulations
Barton Memorial Hospital will no longer meet California’s seismic safety regulations scheduled to take effect by 2030; therefore, the hospital must be rebuilt.
Rebuilding and retrofitting the current hospital facility would require a complex and financially-prohibitive staging and moving of patient care services while the project is constructed in multiple, years-long phases.
With a physical proximity to Nevada, fiscal responsibility demanded assessment of both California and Nevada locations to understand cost, timelines, patient care disruption, and growth opportunities in each location to best meet the needs of the future.
The advantages of constructing a new hospital in Nevada are significant, when compared side-by-side to California:
- upwards of $100 million construction cost savings
- 3-5 years less construction time
- less patient disruption and operational downtime
- future facility growth potential
Healthcare is Complex & Changing
A purposeful shift has transpired within the healthcare industry — a focus on proactive health management through annual wellness visits, preventative screenings, key relationships with primary care offices, chronic care navigators, and population health teams has resulted in a decrease of inpatient volume and an increase in outpatient services. Meaning, fewer people receive care in hospitals and most care today is delivered in a doctor’s office, at a surgery center, or in a walk-in or urgent care clinic.
Rural hospitals across the country are moving away from providing a high number of under-utilized inpatient beds to focus on increased outpatient services, including primary care, specialty care, and home health and hospice care.
A new hospital will adjust to the future needs of healthcare — and the move six miles east will affect a very small percentage of patients within our community.
The most frequently used services within the health system will not be affected by the relocation of the hospital facility; Barton is committed to the South Shore community and will continue to have robust outpatient services at the California campus in South Lake Tahoe.
What's Ahead
Throughout the project, Barton has been guided by input from community surveys, stakeholders, partner agencies, and physician and staff teams, along with data from the triennial Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), market trends, current health data, state regulations, and CA 2030 seismic requirements for healthcare facilities.
With directional approval from Barton's Board of Directors, the due diligence stage of project planning has commenced including project scope, costs, permitting, timing, and any additional work with regulatory agencies. After which, we will begin planning the specifics of the hospital facility and Nevada campus, as well as, how the California campus will continue to best serve the community's needs.
“We are excited to receive this direction from the Board of Directors, securing Barton’s future as Lake Tahoe’s community health partner. The future of healthcare is complex and changing, and we have a responsibility to remain viable and capable of providing care to this community for another 60 years, which is why we are developing plans for the Barton Regional Expansion.”
- Dr. Clint Purvance, President and CEO of Barton Health
In The News
Media inquires: please contact Thea Hardy, Public Relations Specialist (530.543.5617 | thardy@bartonhealth.org).