Pa. & N.J. — Geisinger, a nationally recognized health services organization, has selected Stantec to lead the design of a systemwide masterplan encompassing all inpatient and outpatient facilities spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The leading global architecture, design and engineering firm will support Geisinger’s facilities administration, business strategy and development, and leadership teams in delivering a comprehensive facilities roadmap to help advance the strategic vision of the health system.

“In order to continue serving our patients with the most innovative technologies and modern facilities, it was imperative that we select a partner capable of delivering the types of facilities our patients have become accustomed to expect from Geisinger,” said Bob Markowski, vice president of facilities management for Geisinger. “In Stantec, we are confident we’ve selected a partner with a shared vision for excellence that can provide our patients topnotch facilities throughout Geisinger’s service area.”

As one of the nation’s largest health services organizations, Geisinger serves more than three million residents across 45 counties in central, south-central, and northeast Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The physician-led system is comprised of approximately 30,000 employees, 13 hospital campuses, two research centers, and a 583,000-member health plan.

Stantec will balance shifting population demographics, regional healthcare resources, and anticipated demands on outpatient primary and specialty services with completed regional and campus-specific master plans for a holistic approach. This work will ultimately fill gaps, unify solutions, and apply an overlay of LEAN initiatives to evolve existing campus plans into a true system strategy. The resulting plan with also refine Geisinger’s facility design standards to create a familiar and welcoming environment for patients across the system regardless of location.

In partnership with Geisinger, Stantec will help ensure facilities decisions are made using carefully considered prioritization criteria that blend established strategic goals and business plans with the best use of available resources and sustainable building strategies.

Stantec is dedicated to the creation of life-enhancing environments using sustainable, LEAN and evidence-based design strategies. The firm is committed to serving healthcare clients internationally as a recognized market advisor. A trusted partner for healthcare planning and design, the team has supported health systems such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Hamad Medical Corporation, RWJBarnabas Health, the University of California San Francisco, Medical Center, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

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ATLANTA — The framing of the 16-story Piedmont Atlanta Tower structure has officially reached completion, while remaining on-budget and on-schedule to open in late summer 2020.

Piedmont Health celebrated the major milestone with its design and construction team, employees and roughly 80 major donors who have made donations of $100,000 or more to support the capital expansion project.

The forthcoming tower will accommodate the Piedmont Heart Institute, which has one of two heart transplant programs in Georgia and is a top destination for cardiovascular care.

The tower includes the new Heart and Vascular Center, made possible through a $75 million donation from The Marcus Foundation, and the tower also will feature the Samsky Invasive Cardiovascular Services Center—a recently pledged portion which took $11 million to establish.

Piedmont Healthcare CEO Kevin Brown, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital CEO Patrick Battey, M.D., and Jim Gorrie, CEO of Brasfield & Gorrie, the project’s general contractor, all gave speeches during the event.

“It is a testament to the talent of the team working on this project that after 27 months the project remains on budget and ahead of schedule, despite the challenging weather that we have endured,” Brown said. “When the project is complete, it will help us to continue to provide world-class cardiovascular care and cutting-edge treatments for untold thousands of patients from throughout the Southeast for years to come.”

“This milestone is the result of the hard work of our project team, client and trade partners, aided by a strong focus on innovation, collaboration, safety and self-perform,” said Brasfield & Gorrie CEO Jim Gorrie. “We are honored to continue our longstanding relationship with Piedmont Healthcare and deliver this transformative facility.”

Piedmont Heart currently ranks in the top five percent in the country among cardiovascular organizations and is the only program in Atlanta consistently recognized with the Cardiac Care Excellence Award from Healthgrades – a mark of quality it has earned for nine years. Piedmont is an international leader in cardiovascular research, enabling patient access to innovative therapies not available elsewhere.

According to data released in 2018 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), Piedmont Atlanta ranks in the top 10 institutions in the country in Case Mix Index (CMI), which measures which hospitals have the sickest patients. Piedmont Atlanta was the highest-ranked community hospital in the United States by this measure.

“As the Case-Mix Index indicates, our hospital serves some of the sickest patients as a group in the country and, as a result, we have to continue to plan the ways to serve them,” Dr. Battey said. “As the tower project has progressed, we have been tying it into existing structures at Piedmont Atlanta, some of which were built more than 60 years ago, and upgrading certain components along the way. As each day grows closer to the opening of the tower, we continue to grow excited about the ways in which we will be able to better serve our patients.”

Phase II of the tower up-fit will begin in 2022 and one patient floor will be completed per year, except for 2026 when the final two floors will be built out.

The Piedmont Foundation has raised $110 million towards the $150 million fundraising goal it set for the tower.

The entirety of the $603 million expansion project is slated for completion in 2026.

The project is a culmination of dozens of partner companies led by CBRE as program manager, HKS, Inc. as architect, Brasfield & Gorrie as construction contractor, and Morris, Manning, and Martin as outside legal counsel. In addition, more than 1,000 people – patients, staff, neighbors and expansion leadership – provided input on the vision of the project through workshops and advisory meetings.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) produces intelligence we can act on. With the ability to streamline everyday processes, IoT has the potential to transform the way we design, commission, fund, and build projects across all sectors. When it comes to major capital projects for healthcare, however, there are additional considerations to take into account – particularly how regulatory requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and The Joint Commission affect both design and construction methods. By leveraging IoT, machine learning, and AI, we can meet these requirements while reducing costs, increasing operating efficiencies, ensuring compliance, and improving the patient experience. We can also learn more about how to handle the negotiation of new contracts to help better these things, and Consider negotiation training programmes that deliver powerful results with proven ROI. It can be complicated alone, but there is help out there to simplify things.

The regulatory requirements in healthcare have a major cost and schedule impact on new construction as well as ongoing operating and maintenance cost over the life of the asset (whether that be a medical office building, operating theatre, etc.). Similar to the safety requirements for heavy industrial or manufacturing projects, healthcare projects have extensive requirements for patient safety that impact everything from HVAC and air handling to plumbing and electrical layout. This makes healthcare projects the most complex in the building sector.

First things first: data and process standardization

Before we’re able to truly embrace emerging technologies like IoT, AI or machine learning, it’s essential that data and process standardization first be in place. Many businesses and facilities go to data engineering consultants to ensure the way this data system is created allows them to collect and use the data in the most optimal way possible. These requirements, which will manage assets over their entire life cycle, must be lean and efficient for a hospital’s internal facilities management resources to maintain them on a sustained basis. Once established, data and process standardizations enable the exploration and integration of emerging technologies.

Embracing IoT, AI and machine learning

Building Management Systems (BMS) generate a huge amount of consistent data that, oftentimes, is unable to be processed by those in facilities management. Instead, facilities teams can become overwhelmed and, in some cases, suffer from alarm fatigue. Once the BMS data is integrated with an owner’s data strategy, however, it can provide enormous benefits for owners to operate more efficiently.

For example, rather than replace filters on a scheduled basis, hospitals can use BMS data to replace filters when they are clogged (i.e. more frequently in environments with dusty air, and less frequently in environments with clean air). Algorithms also now exist to predict hot/cold calls with over 90 percent accuracy. The facilities team receives an alert if there is any deviation from the predicted pattern, allowing them to precisely pinpoint where abnormal variances occur that need attention.

Hospitals using data standardization can leverage information across functional units. As the space classifies rooms by room type, the system automatically informs the engineering and life safety teams about changes and triggers them to adjust inspection, testing and maintenance processes accordingly.

Many challenges come in the hand-offs between functions throughout the asset’s life cycle – as we move from the design and construction phase to operations and maintenance. This is because projects have historically been function-centric, not data-centric. Beginning with the creation of a “digital twin” (you can find more information on digital twin technology on the Vantiq page here.) of the asset during design, data can now be analyzed and monitored to prevent problems before they arise, avoid downtime, and even plan for future needs.

Maximizing return with emerging technology

In recent years, the downward cost pressure on the healthcare industry has dramatically increased focus on maximizing the return on capital employed. Getting the most value possible out of a newly built asset is more important now than ever before.

Today, there is an emphasis on differentiating and segmenting services – from critical care in a hospital to outpatient procedures in a medical office building to a minor emergency clinic in a strip center. Different services carry different asset requirements and associated costs. The goal is to align an investment with the market served to deliver what is needed at the lowest cost. This makes portfolio planning and the selection and funding of the “right” capital projects much more critical than other sectors.

Looking ahead

McKinsey predicts IoT will have $11 trillion in economic impact by 2025. In construction, a technologically savvy industry translates into more projects in shorter durations as well as faster approvals and authorizations. IoT is capable of breaking down silos, increasing efficiencies, and providing valuable insights in real time.

Rather than individuals, teams, and even entire companies holding on to data in silos, different data sources can now be connected with emerging technologies. Using these tools throughout the full lifecycle of an asset can eliminate artificial barriers created in a function-centric model and democratize the data for all stakeholders involved. By allowing data and technology to deliver on its promise, we will create a better way to build.

About the Authors

As Vice President of Strategy & Consulting at Enstoa, Michael Matthews has over 25 years of experience managing large capital projects and portfolios in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He specializes in strategic business consulting and smart technology solutions that enable leading organizations, worldwide, to spend more strategically on improving operations. For more information, visit www.enstoa.com.

Director of Digital Solutions at Enstoa, Matthias Ebinger, advises healthcare systems to optimize and digitize facilities and real estate processes. He previously led the process engineering team within the FM department of one of the country’s largest hospital systems and is an assistant visiting professor in the Facilities Management M.S. Program at Pratt Institute. For more information, visit http://www.enstoa.com.

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NANTUCKET, Mass. – Situated 30 miles at sea in a facility nearly 60 years old, Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH) has been serving its island community for over 100 years, with the facility being the only healthcare option for its 11,000 permanent residents as well as 60,000 seasonal residents.

The island’s new 120,000-sqaure-foot, 14-bed hospital is a right-sized facility that seeks to transform the patient experience and increases access to providers.

The new NCH confronts the shifting seasonal populations as well as fluctuating weather patterns to ensure functionality throughout all conditions.

Ultimately, NCH selected Cannon Design of Boston to build a hospital that can withstand even the most severe weather events, including hurricanes. NCH is designed to be the “last building standing,” prioritizing safety and resilience and is said to be able to withstand Category 5 hurricanes and up to 185 mph winds. The facility is scheduled to be open to patients by the end of 2018.

Mike Cavanaugh, sustainability leader at CannonDesign, spoke to HCO News to discuss hurricane preparedness and hurricane-resilient design.

Q: What are the standard operation plans for hurricanes in healthcare facilities?

Cavanaugh: Emergency plans vary depending on location, climate and the acuity of patient population served. For inpatient hospitals these emergency preparedness plans can range from partial shut-down and of non-critical care functions to maintaining full operations with supplies and plans for temporary housing of housing medical staff. We work with our clients to ensure first that they have a plan and then we to design toward it. One way we are able to assist in that is by providing natural disaster impact risk (or resilience) assessments. For example in coastal Massachusetts, the primary risks may be storm surge, flooding and high winds. In California, however, we may be more focused on extended drought and wildfires. In some cases, as we see more frequently, now, these plans may tie in to a larger regional strategy with other healthcare facilities and local governments.

Q: What are some design techniques/features a facility can incorporate to prepare for/withstand hurricanes?

Cavanaugh: It’s not just about preparing for hurricanes, it’s designing hospitals to be resilient to storms, climate change, new technology, power loss and more. When we think of storms, the most common design features of resilient structures are investing in windows and materials that can withstand intense winds, flood walls, elevated power sources and patient floors, to name just a few. A few other things building owners should consider:

• Invest in future weather prediction. Designers and building owners can use tools like the U.S. Climate Resilient Toolkit to model which climate changes will create new environmental conditions over time. Then, they can design hospitals to not just be resilient to current challenges, but those that will develop in the future. They could also consider accessing personal weather stations that can help the staff to prepare for upcoming weather events. This should ensure that workers are aware of any extreme weather that is forecast.
• Embrace redundancy. Loss of power is always a threat to healthcare facilities and failing to design redundancies into power systems can leave health facilities without power for extended time or during severe weather events. Critical to any resilient design solution is the incorporation of multiple redundancies into a building’s power infrastructure via generators and on-site reserve fuel for these challenging moments

Q: What specific supplies/services are in place at Nantucket for emergency weather conditions? Are there any innovative electronic/technological systems integrated into the facility for hurricane preparedness/protection?

Cavanaugh: Nantucket Island and its residents face unique challenges. Given its location in the Atlantic Ocean, NCH must regularly deal with inclement weather. The new hospital is designed to withstand potentially catastrophic conditions and provide critical services while “off-the-grid” when weather cuts off access to the mainland, Prepared to be the “last building standing” the facility is equipped with dual fuel electrical generating capacity to provide system redundancy, mechanical elements well above grade in case of severe flooding, materials to withstand 150 MPH hurricane winds, and operable windows for ventilation in the event the HVAC loses power.

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Contractors who work on renovation and remodeling projects in hospitals and healthcare facilities face special challenges when it comes to dust control, and the stakes are high. It could even be a matter of life or death. This is not something that many people would realise, and issues like this might become more apparent if people read a Contractors Blog for a day in the life of the profession. It is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a fungal infection responsible for severe illness and mortality, particularly in immunocompromised patients. According to a 2009 report published in Medical Mycology, most hospital outbreaks of aspergillosis have been linked to failure to control the spread of contaminated dust or debris on hospital internal construction and renovation projects.

Because of the well-documented risks of dust in healthcare settings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires hospitals to perform an Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) before any construction, renovation or repair project takes place – and to include a dust control plan as a part of this assessment. A growing number of contractors are using the ZipWall Dust Barrier System as a key component of their dust control plan.

An Essential Tool in the Commercial Contractor’s Toolbox

Jacob Bowler, project supervisor for Suffolk Construction, a large commercial construction company that works in the healthcare space in Greater Boston, says ZipWall dust barriers are a go-to solution for dust control. “The ZipWall system is fast and easy to set up and take down. It doesn’t disturb the existing structure and it does a great job of dust containment,” he says. “It’s also easy to set up negative air with a ZipWall barrier.”

The ZipWall Dust Barrier System is a comprehensive dust protection solution for construction, remodeling, and renovation. Contractors use it to isolate the work area and prevent airborne dust from dispersing. The patented ZipWall spring-loaded poles can be set up in just a few minutes without ladders or tape, and without damaging surfaces. Specialized accessories complete the system, adding important features such as tight sealing and entries in the barrier.

Flexible and Adjustable For Many Hospital Dust Control Situations

In hospitals and healthcare facilities, the multiple ways contractors use the ZipWall system depend on the ICRA requirements for the particular project.

“Hospitals have four levels of controls, depending on patient needs,” says Patrick Brower of Wise Construction in Boston, who has worked on many projects in major hospitals in Greater Boston. “These controls dictate what we have to do to protect the area.”

Brower says he appreciates the ZipWall system’s ability to quickly adapt to control dust at any jobsite, from narrow hallways to large spaces with high ceilings.

“We use the ZipWall system because it provides a flexibility that traditional building materials do not,” says Brower. “It’s flexible and the tools are manageable enough that we can quickly create a barrier of any size for any location.”

The ability to set up temporary dust protection walls quickly makes the ZipWall system uniquely suited for emergency projects and those that need to be completed fast, particularly on nights and weekends when time is limited.

Keeping Dust Under Control When Building Semi-Permanent Barriers

For longer-term projects, CDC regulations require the construction of semi-permanent barriers using paneling, bracing, and drywall. Lynchburg drywall contractors can come and build the structures but the process of building these temporary walls creates dust that also must be kept under control.
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“Whenever we build temporary enclosures out of drywall or other materials, we use ZipWall barriers for dust control to create a vestibule around it,” Brower says. “It’s clean going up, it goes up and comes down fast, and it works.”

Suffolk Construction recently geared up to start a longer term project – a new garage addition and pedestrian walkway at a large hospital in Boston.

The project required construction of a semi-permanent containment wall, but before the wall could be built, a temporary dust protection barrier was needed. Suffolk has been using ZipWall products for this purpose and many others for several years.

Contractors also say they often use ZipWall dust barriers to build temporary vestibules at the entrances to large projects to abide by CDC regulations.

“We create sort of an ante-room to provide construction workers with a place to prepare for entry and exit to and from the jobsite,” says Bowler of Suffolk Construction.

Time Saved, and the Bottom Line

The contractors who use the ZipWall Dust Barrier System say it saves them a significant amount of time and money. On some off-hours hospital and healthcare facility projects, barriers must be put up and taken down frequently, sometimes on a daily basis. The ZipWall system takes minutes, rather than hours, to install and remove, and it only takes one worker to do it, not several. The time saved on these projects can even mean the difference between a profit and a loss on some jobs.

“Cost is definitely a factor,” says Brower of Wise Construction. “The biggest expense in our industry is labor. Anything you can do to save minutes saves dollars.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — Hospitals are commonly regarded as a safe place among patients and caregivers, where services never cease, and staff is continuously effective — but what happens when disaster strikes? Hospitals are needed to operate under standard-to-severe conditions, maintaining quality care and protection for patients, visitors and associates alike in the event of a natural disaster.

According to Scott Cormier, vice president of emergency management, environment of care, and safety at Medxcel, weather-related catastrophes are responsible for nearly 500 deaths and $15 billion in damages. In his recent publication, Cormier focuses on tornadoes in particular, which typically occur during the months of spring and summer. As hospitals stand as a crucial asset in the response and recovery of a community following a disaster, it’s imperative that these facilities are prepared and protected. Cormier explained how a hospital can prepare and protect during the event of a tornado by following three separate steps. These steps comprise implementing a comprehensive emergency management plan, developing communication infrastructure and following the plan.

In 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated emergency management requirements for 17 providers and suppliers of healthcare including hospitals, long term care, home health, and outpatient services. Through this, Medicare and Medicaid providers are required to create comprehensive emergency management plans in place that account for their patients, associates, and communities for all natural, man-made and technological disasters.

If a facility is determined unsafe, the hospital must work with local emergency management and public safety agencies, as well as contracted partners, to evacuate the facility.

There are three methods of evacuation: horizontal (moving patients from one side of a building to another that is safer), vertical (evacuating a floor of the hospital to another floor), and total (evacuating the entire facility.  Each department should have a specific evacuation plan that considers the type of patient being evacuated, such as a newborn, critical care patient, or patients attached to specialized equipment. The Hospital Command Center coordinates the evacuation, connecting patients with transport assets and open beds at other facilities, while patients are transported from their rooms to a staging area, and those patients that require rapid transportation are evacuated first, while making sure to provide the patient’s chart for any specialized medications so they can continue care.

Tornado safety features include special windows to withstand flying debris, underground wiring to prevent power outages, and a reinforced roof. For existing structures, the facility team should create safe zones characterized as windowless, reinforced rooms placed throughout the facility where staff, visitors, and patients can shelter during a tornado. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a grant program called the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, in which healthcare facilities can partner with local and state governments to apply for safe room grants.

Cormier urges hospitals to create a plan that reinforces areas to make the building safer, stating it should be a part of a multi-year capital improvement program. Further protections include investing in warning equipment like weather alert systems, and subscribing to a private meteorological service that has the exact coordinates of hospitals to receive specific forecasts and warnings based upon those locations, which is more accurate than the general warnings broadcasted in the media. It is also vital to train staff on how to react during a tornado watch and warning, which includes preparation of patients and visitors, keeping emergency equipment accessible in all areas of the facility, and having a checklist to quickly determine if the building is safe to stay after the tornado passes. Finally, confirming memorandums of understanding (MOU’s) for staffing, transportation and evacuation sites are up to date.

“Since tornadoes appear with little warning, unlike hurricanes, there is little that can be done when a tornado warning is issued. Natural disasters are one of the top hazards a healthcare facility will face, so it makes sense that they invest in preparation, response, and recovery supplies and equipment,” said Cormier. “If you are in a tornado risk area, it’s important you understand your facility, your vulnerabilities, and where safe areas are located in the building.”

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HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital Emergency Department (ED) officially earned LEED Gold certification in July with the help of CannonDesign and Hunter Roberts Construction Group — both of which have offices in New York.

Established in 1916, Huntington Hospital is a full-service, 408-bed, nonprofit community hospital serving Huntington Township and surrounding communities. Huntington Hospital has been a member of Northwell Health since 1994 and “shares the system’s vision of being a pre-eminent healthcare delivery system in the tradition of excellence and the embodiment of community values and human dignity,” according to the hospital’s website.

LEED positively evaluated the emergency department across key criteria related to sustainability including materials used, energy use and water efficiency, according to a statement from the architect.

“Achieving LEED Gold certification is a significant achievement for Northwell Health and its Huntington Hospital,” said Rich Kahn, CannonDesign’s New York office practice leader, in a statement. “They established LEED Silver as a goal from the outset of the project and through collaboration and design creativity the ED exceeded that initial target. It’s always rewarding for our firm to partner with organizations who demonstrate such a strong commitment to sustainability, and we’re proud of our work with Northwell Health.”

The key design features and green elements that helped the emergency department achieve LEED Gold certification included extensive water use–reduction strategies, energy-efficient materials and systems, access to natural daylight, a focus on enhanced commissioning, low-emittance materials throughout and construction waste management. Collectively, these sustainable design features have created a healthier environment in which patients can receive care and staff can deliver care. This translates to a more rewarding patient experience for everyone involved.

Huntington Hospital sought to significantly increase its ED treatment volume while improving efficiency and patient outcomes to meet the community’s rapidly growing needs, according to CannonDesign’s statement. Huntington’s existing ED needed to maintain operations during construction; therefore, phasing was carefully planned to expand throughput, minimize disruption to ED operations and ensure no negative impact on the patient experience. One of 21 community-based hospitals in the Northwell Health network, Huntington Hospital now features an expanded ED that has doubled in space and has greatly improved the stream of patients, visitors and staff into and through the unit.

The hospital has also implemented what it calls a “super-track” model in the emergency department to efficiently manage wait times and reduce the length of stays for patients.

“The split-flow, super-track model is a system that filters patients between acute and lower-acuity care areas in order to more effectively manage patient wait times and reduce length of stay. This helps patients receive the type of care they require in a more efficient and effective manner,” said Robert Masters, New York health market leader of CannonDesign.

The new ED is advantageously positioned to connect with the standing hospital on the first-floor level, within close proximity to the radiology department and lab services, and with many other key program adjacencies that will facilitate future development. The ED visually anchors the existing hospital building and creates a new reference point for the campus. In addition to providing a new entrance, it constitutes a link with the original hospital pavilion by flanking the current main entry drop-off. Large corner windows provide natural light and scenic views.

Masters explained that other hospitals can use Huntington’s ED as a model for future healthcare facility expansions.

“The sustainable strategies represented in Huntington Hospital’s emergency department can be seized by other facilities when organizations engage design firms well versed in sustainable design strategy. Each facility is unique and thus requires a unique design solution, but sustainable design is always possible,” concluded Masters.

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The hospital’s green strategy has situated the institution to gain a certified level of recognition in the U.S. Green Building Council’s and Green Business Certification Inc.’s LEED program this past July, according to a statement.

The design of the hospital’s $450 million headquarters, which opened last September, granted the opportunity to create a campus that would advance from top to bottom on the environmental efficiency of the old building. The 650,000-square-foot-structure was expected to use 12 percent less in utilities than comparably sized hospitals — an efficiency goal that hospital officials said they are already exceeding.

“It’s a smart business decision to save energy,” said Stanley Hunter, the project director for the hospital’s master plan program, in the Stamford Advocate. “If you think about it from the very beginning, it’s not costing more.”

The hospital’s exterior echoes the emphasis on sustainability, with terracotta panels covering the lower part of the building. The terracotta is more energy efficient than brick, because it does not trap and transfer heat into the building, which results in less energy needed for cooling. With a similar objective, the new building’s roof is white, so it reflects rather than absorbs sunlight.

Lowering the use of energy helps to produce a more comfortable environment, hospital officials said, with the new building’s control system turning down the lights on patient floors at night to create a quieter ambiance while also using less wattage.

“With that type of control system, you automatically have both the advantage of a better patient experience, plus energy savings,” Hunter said to the Stamford Advocate. “It’s a win-win.”

The approximately 35,000-square-foot Central Utility plant, which opened in January 2014, also helps maintain energy-cost savings. A tunnel lined with utility tubes and wiring leads to the heart of the hospital’s energy-conserving operations, designed to serve the new buildings more resourcefully than its former hub. Running on natural gas, the boiler and chiller is monitored digitally to make sure it is only expending as much as energy as possibly needed.

“We used to burn No. 6 oil,” said plant operations supervisor Terence Brady. “But it’s not cost-effective and not the green synergy we’re trying to promote.”

Hospital officials said they maintain a close watch over the plant’s systems, which work at prolific rates, according to a statement. One boiler produces almost 13,000 pounds of steam per hour.

“We’re constantly having [the boilers] tested for their efficiency,” said Michael Smeriglio, the hospital’s executive director of facilities management in the Stamford Advocate. “We have an optimization package, which controls the motor — it’s reading the temperature and flame output and reading the amount of gas going in. We’re not using more than what we need.”

On the hospital’s third level, the exact conservation principles apply in the 40,000-square-foot mechanical floor. Air handlers use “variable speed technology” motors that spin as fast as necessary. If less air is needed, the motors slow down to save energy.

However, data on the new building’s total utility output and costs was not immediately available.

Approximately 980 healthcare projects are certified nationwide, while 1,835 are waiting to earn certification. Connecticut has 270 LEED-certified commercial properties and another 364 waiting for certification. Across the U.S., about 64,500 projects are certified or working towards certification.

“One of the main tenets of LEED is human health and the belief that buildings can have an impact on our health,” said Theresa Backus, a technical specialist in the building council’s LEED department. “We believe buildings that are designed to be more sustainable are healthier buildings.”

Stamford Hospital officials envision applying other innovations when they become financially possible. The Central Utility Plant could accommodate a co-generation system, which would recycle utility emissions. Heat byproducts, for instance, could be reused to warm up boiler water.

“You’d using less energy to warm up the water in boilers,” Smeriglio said in the Stamford Advocate. “We’d want to use every waste product off the co-generation.”

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The wound care program specializes in treating patients suffering from chronic non-healing wounds, typically brought on by conditions such as diabetes and arterial disease. With a five-year mortality rate of 68 percent for diabetics after limb amputation, it is critical to aggressively treat and heal problem wounds as quickly as possible. Treatment in a hyperbaric chamber surrounds a patient with oxygen at pressure levels three times higher than normal, allowing the lungs to inhale more oxygen and often help wounds heal much faster.

Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center originally opened in 2006 to serve patients in Hutchinson and surrounding areas, including Central and Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado and Northwestern Oklahoma.

Another third-party company, Healogics Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., has worked the center since 2012. According to a statement, WCA will take over the operation in the next few weeks after selecting a director for Hutchinson, said Sue Wray, director of communications at the hospital.

“Wound Care Advantage will bring a new level of clinical and analytical oversight and helpful resources to the team, improving workflow and allowing the treatment team to quickly evaluate how well a wound is responding to treatment. This helps determine whether additional services are needed such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy,” said Patrick D. Rhodes, regional director of operations of WCA.

One of the most notable changes in the program will be invisible to patients, but very important to the clinical team and hospital, Rhodes described.

“There will be more staff training and constant availability of clinical experts, both on site and virtually, as well as daily monitoring of clinic volumes, healing percentages, operational efficiencies and Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI). These changes are designed for better patient care as well as better fiscal performance for the hospital,” said Rhodes.

Both Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and WCA also share a “patient first” philosophy and mission. Their commitment to employing the most effective treatment modalities and best technologies available will bolster the facility’s ability to heal patients as quickly as possible. Though both organizations work to be fiscally responsible, they are committed to bringing the best possible outcomes to patients, first and foremost.

This new merge won’t bring additional equipment, but will essentially adopt new technological systems to overhaul the delivery of high-level patient care.

“The Luvo suite of services replaces Hutchinson Regional Medical Center’s hybrid paper record-keeping system with a comprehensive electronic documentation system. This allows for better, more accurate records, increasing workflow capabilities for clinic staff and reducing the time patients spend at the center. It also provides robust benchmarking and reporting,” said Rhodes.

According to Rhodes, Luvo offers Luvo University, a web-based online learning management system available 24/7 to all clinic staff. A variety of courses are available on demand to educate clinicians and improve clinic flow and patient care. FlightPlan, a data-driven referral management system, integrates with Luvo to save time, increase efficiencies, generate referrals and provide tracking and accountability. Patient Happiness also tracks real-time information on patient satisfaction to the program director.

The overall goal of both Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and WCA is to bring convenient treatment access for patients in outlying rural areas through multiple services, including round-trip transportation and/or short-term housing at discounted rates, as well as telemedicine options.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Hutchinson Regional Medical Center as they continue to strengthen their wound care program,” said Mike Comer, CEO of Wound Care Advantage, in a statement. “Patients in rural outlying areas now have access to world-class treatment from an exceptionally talented team of physicians and nurses.”

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