GREENBRAE, CA — The Marin Healthcare District today announced that AB 523, a bill that will provide the District with a 2-year extension to complete the seismic upgrade work needed at its Marin General Hospital. Without it, the District would have likely been required to have the work completed by the end of 2013.

Because the hospital is currently under Sutter management, the District would not have had sufficient access to the buildings or necessary input from the employees and medical staff at Marin General Hospital, until after they regain management of the hospital on June 30, 2010. That would have made adhering to the original deadline difficult because the District would have been faced with a very short timeframe to complete the process of approving architectural designs, conducting environmental and safety studies, and then completing construction in time to meet the 2013 deadline.

“Now we have the opportunity and time to complete the design with thorough input from the staff and complete access to the property” said Lee Domanico, CEO of the Marin Healthcare District. “We will be submitting a new construction calendar to OSHPD with construction set to begin on January 1, 2012, with completion in 2015″ he added.

“Because of our unique circumstances here in Marin, it appears the Marin Healthcare District is the first to have received one of these special extensions and we greatly appreciate it. This will allow us the time needed to really design and build the hospital Marin needs now, and deserves well into the future” he concluded.