Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center recently completed a 42,000-square-foot expansion to its emergency room, one of the busiest in the state.

The new building has 42 treatment rooms, 4 resuscitation rooms, a central cardiac monitoring system, and imaging equipment, such as ultrasound, CT scan, and X-ray. It also has a 24-hour discharge pharmacy.

“People know we offer excellent care right here in South Sacramento, and it’s exciting that we now have the space that is consistent with that excellence,” said Peter Miles, MD, FACC, the hospital’s physician in chief during a recent ribbon cutting event for the new emergency room.

Dr. Miles thanked emergency room staff for working in the older space that he acknowledged had become too small and cramped as patient demand grew over the years in South Sacramento.

In 2022, 121,988 patients were treated at the South Sacramento Medical Center, making it the third busiest in California at that time, according to the California Department of Healthcare Access and Information. Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center had the second highest number of visits in 2022, and the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center had the most visits in the state.

Since 2009, the medical center has also served as a Level II Trauma Center and cared for more than 1,100 trauma patients last year.

Improving care with a better environment

Now that the new building is operational, Kaiser Permanente will begin renovating sections of the older emergency room next door. When that renovation is complete in early 2025, the South Sacramento Medical Center will have a total of 88 emergency treatment rooms.

“The work we do is so complex, and getting this facility all set up and ready to open is an incredible step forward as far as being in a better environment to deliver excellent care to our patients,” said Andrew Elms, MD, Emergency Services chief.

South Sacramento’s high volume of emergency room patients can be attributed to population growth in Sacramento County and area residents who need more emergency care than surrounding areas, said Dr. Elms.

From 2010 to 2020, Sacramento County’s population grew by about 13% to 1.6 million, according to the United States Census Bureau. That was more than double the 6% growth rate of California as a whole.

The South Sacramento area has a higher rate of heart failure than surrounding areas, a large population needing emergency psychiatric care, and a higher disease burden in general, said Dr. Elms.

“All that brings people to our doors,” he said. “Everyone who comes to the emergency room is concerned, and most are in pain, so reducing wait times and expediting care really improves the experience. And that is a very big element of what we have incorporated into this expansion.”

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