Looking to become a premium hospital, the Hollywood-based Cha Medical Center is making aggressive investments in addition to a large scale hiring spree.
Cha Medical Center has also appointed a new chief executive officer (CEO) to play the role of the highest ranked global executive last month.
Robert Allen, the newly appointed CEO, has a 25-year experience in Southern California’s medical industry, including his stint as a chief financial officer at the Keck Medical Center of USC. Neurosurgery specialist Jung-hoon Lee has been appointed as executive vice-president.
The plan to upgrade the facilities includes an investment of $400 million will build a 10-story medical center (212,830 square feet) and five-story building for patient rooms (174,362 square feet), both of which are expected to be completed by 2019.
The new medical center will have a treatment clinic, surgery center and state-of-the-art MRI and CT scan equipment and a large parking structure for 562 vehicles. The first floor of the building for patient rooms will be designed for patients suffering from heart diseases and also for those receiving rehabilitation treatments. Intensive care units and state-of-the-art surgery rooms will also be available.
“Everything from the hospital’s services and properties will take a 180-degree turn,” said Cha Medical Center. “The facilities will simply replace the current campus on L.A.’s North Vermont Avenue and Fountain Avenue as a world class, modern service center.”
Cha Medical Center also announced that it is preparing to expand its hiring process for new employees in conjunction with the new project. Nurses, radiation therapists, human resources specialists, public workers and business developers will all be in demand. As a large volume of its patients is Korean, bilingual applicants are expected to have an advantage.
Cha Medical Center will also divvy up its patients into three separate tracks depending on their conditions to streamline the waiting time.
Currently, Cha Medical Center has a series of facilities including seven different properties. It is employing about 600-man medical staff in addition to 1,300 employees. The hospital first opened in 2004.
By Moonho Kim
