emergency department. A new Novato Community Hospital is under construction and is expected to open in the fall of 2000. The new 65,000 square foot, acute care 47-bed facility, will also include a 24-hour emergency department, inpatient/outpatient surgery, a medical/surgical unit, a critical care unit and complete imaging services. NCH affiliated with Sutter Health, a network of 27 hospitals in Northern California, in December 1985.