WATT-MAN

The post RCL & Linear LED Lamps appeared first on HCO News.

The retrofit troffers are available in two sizes: 2’ x 2’ (30W) or 2’ x 4’ (40W) with 3000 or 4000 lumens and 3500K or 4000K with 85 CRI.  The patented, shallow housing retrofit design installs in less than five minutes in existing parabolic and lensed door fixtures and does not require access from above. The Center Basket Troffers offer a completely new appearance and better illumination than an LED lamp replacement that may use existing dusty and discolored parabolic louvers or yellowed lenses. Nora’s fixtures have a unitized body with reflector and diffused, removable lens that evenly distributes light and maximizes performance. A hinged access plate has two replaceable LED strips with tightly spaced diodes that eliminate any diode image. The fixture offers 120V/277V output and 0 to 10V dimming, and is cULus listed for damp locations and DLC listed.

Nora Lighting specializes in the development and introduction of LED products, and offers a comprehensive line of LED fixtures.

Nora Lighting

The post LED Retrofit Center Basket Troffers appeared first on HCO News.

In the fast-paced health care arena, which has experienced continued consolidation and expense reduction, the smart use of resources is a must for the nation’s 11,000 community and American Hospital Association (AHA)-registered hospitals.

The good news is that outstanding opportunities to positively impact the bottom line often exist right in a hospital’s own lighting system. With U.S. Department of Energy studies confirming that lighting costs account for as much as 30 percent or more of the average hospital’s total energy expenses, upgrades involving high-performing, energy-efficient LED technology can be a quick and easy way to improve a hospital’s lighting quality while significantly reducing operating costs.

Delivering Comprehensive Benefits

Hospitals, which operate round the clock, are particularly well positioned to benefit from LED upgrades. Highly efficient LEDs can reduce a hospital’s lighting-related energy costs by as much as 50 percent or more and – as a function of their powerful coverage and bright, uniform lighting distribution – can enhance visibility and color quality while also helping to project a hospital’s dedication to quality, cleanliness and professionalism. All of these traits can enhance a hospital’s image as a comfortable, safe and patient-centric institution. At the same time, the long lifespan of LED technology helps reduce maintenance costs and concerns, freeing staff members to focus on matters of greater importance.

“As hospital [officials] continue to look for cost-saving measures, particularly those that can impact their energy bills, LED upgrades are a low-hanging fruit that can help achieve that objective,” said Donna Craft, director of product planning for the Facility, Environmental Services and Construction division of Premier Inc., a national health care group purchasing organization (GPO) based in Charlotte, N.C., as well as a board member for the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE).

In addition to significantly reducing operating costs for a hospital upgrading from fluorescent, halogen, HID/metal halide or another older/more traditional lighting technology, said Craft, “…the color temperatures available with LEDs can help improve lighting quality and enhance the healing environment for patients as well as improve visibility and comfort for clinicians working long hours. LEDs can deliver benefits across the continuum of care.”

As a result, Craft added, energy-related systems like lighting play significantly into a health care facility’s daily operations as well as its patient environment, and are a large focus among health care executives today.

Boosting the Health of Hospitals

Consider the LED lighting upgrade recently undertaken at Baptist Health Associates, a 273-bed health care facility in Corbin, Ky. The hospital upgraded 675, 110-watt lighting fixtures – each housing three, 32-watt T8 fluorescent lamps and an electronic ballast – to Litetronics’ 50-watt LED RetroFit Kits. The kits easily upgrade existing fluorescent systems to long-life, energy-saving LED technology in just minutes. As a result, the hospital saw its lighting energy consumption and costs reduced by half. Based on the facility’s 8,730 annual hours of operation and the availability of more than $20,000 in product rebates from the local utility, the upgrade reduced the hospital’s energy bills by nearly $30,000 annually. The project will pay itself back in just more than two years, enabling the hospital community to enjoy the benefits of LED technology for years to come. Many hospitals are opting to reduce their electricity consumption and their expenditure by improving the sustainability of their lighting. There are even some medical facilities that look around to purchase custom lighting fabrication options, as nice lighting paired with intricate lighting designs can help uplift the mood of the patients as well as the staff.

An LED upgrade currently underway at Boulder Community Health’s Foothills Hospital Campus in Boulder, Colo., is driving a similar range of benefits. Replacing high-pressure sodium, metal halide and fluorescent lighting throughout interior corridors, underground and exterior parking garages, and utility/generator rooms with nearly 600 LED high-bay and linear fixtures from Litetronics is slated to deliver some $775,000 in energy and maintenance savings over the next decade. The project is expected to pay itself back in just more than two years.

With the elimination of mercury-containing fluorescent and HID lamps and ballasts, the upgrade will also reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint and enhance sustainability. And thanks to Litetronics’ patented system that enables the rapid installation of linear LED retrofits without breaking into the ceiling plenum, patient activities won’t be significantly impacted. The hospital will further save labor costs on clean up and avoid costly measures related to infection control.

A Superior Solution

Baptist Health Associates and Boulder Community Health aren’t alone. Craft confirmed that LED lighting upgrades have become extremely popular in hospital settings nationwide, particularly in garage and parking lot applications, patient rooms, corridors, surgical spaces and common areas.

“The fact is, health care institutions everywhere are all looking at lighting upgrades in some respect, and we’ve seen facilities engage in lighting upgrades at every level, from conversions involving 5 percent of a hospital’s space to those involving 85 percent or more,” said Craft.

In combination with the availability of utility rebates, which can help offset the up-front cost of energy-efficient lighting products, accelerate project payback periods and enhance ROIs, “there’s no hospital out there today that’s not considering LED lighting upgrades based on the comprehensive benefits they deliver,” Craft said.

Working with a trusted lighting manufacturer and a qualified installer, LED upgrades can be conducted quickly and cleanly. This ensures minimal disruption to hospital operations while enhancing the comfort, safety, security and overall experience of all facility occupants. An investment in an LED upgrade can also help position a hospital as a leader in green and sustainable practices and provide years of maintenance-free operations.

Overall, based on size, hours of operation and known operating challenges, hospitals represent tremendous opportunities for energy-efficient lighting upgrades. The time is now to embrace the energy and cost savings, maintenance reductions and quality improvements that an LED upgrade can drive.

Steve McGuire is the vice president of sales at Litetronics, a Bedford Park, Ill.-based lighting manufacturer. He can be reached at smcguire@litetronics.com.

The post How Lighting Can Boost Health During Hospital Renovations, Expansions appeared first on HCO News.

CANTON, Ga. — The Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton has been making plans to upgrade and build a new hospital for close to 10 years. Construction began in Jan. 2014, with the new updated hospital slated to open on May 6, replacing the old 1960 facility that is still currently in use in North Canton. The new full-service community hospital will have more than 600 physicians and 1,700 employees.

The budget for the new 700,000-square-foot Cherokee hospital is $280 million, with 300 more employees than the old hospital, according to a statement. The architect on the project is Howell Rusk Dodson Architects (HRD) in Atlanta, and the general contractor is Batson Cook (also in Atlanta). Construction is already complete on the new hospital, according to Dale Lee, lead design architect at HRD, and will open with more than twice the square footage as the old hospital. Northside Hospital staff is focused on training and education between now and when hospital doors open, while overseeing the installations of equipment and furniture. The goal of the new hospital is to replace the existing facility with state-of-the-art modernized features, expansion capabilities for future growth and to upgrade the level of service for the people of Canton, according to Lee.

The new hospital is built on 50 acres of land, and will have 150 patient rooms, including a 24-bed ICU unit, 45 emergency department exam rooms, inpatient and outpatient radiology and cardiology, and six operating rooms, according to Lee. It will also have a cancer center and infusion center, an outpatient surgery center, and a 900-space parking deck. The new hospital will also have a women’s center — which the previous hospital did not — that will have 13 labor and delivery rooms, two C-Section rooms, and a Zen garden built outside, according to Lee.

Design aspects of the hospital were inspired by the Cherokee community, following Cherokee’s motto, “Where metro meets the mountains,” according to Lee. “We wanted to create some nice public spaces. We wanted to make sure we combined high end materials that you would want in a hospital, but also to use materials that are native to the area that offer warmth and a feeling of comfort,” said Lee. To achieve this, HRD used a combination of high-tech materials and design including metals, panels, and using clean lines in combination with stone walls, wood walls and very ‘earth-like materials,’” according to Lee. Much of the art in the hospital also comes from local artists and photographers.

The building is also designed and oriented to give patients beautiful views, according to Lee. “Creating a connection between the inside and the outdoors was a really important part of the design. There is so much natural light coming into the building, you don’t even need lights on most of the time,” said Lee. That said, 50 percent of the building’s light fixtures will be energy-efficient LED lighting, according to a statement.

To create a community feel, there is a large dining space called The Galleria with a large outdoor terrace space intended to be used by the public for community events, or simply to go out to lunch, according to Lee. “The new hospital will become a destination for the community to visit for pleasure in addition to going to the hospital when someone is sick. That’s something you don’t see every day,” said Lee. “This is what I personally enjoy about designing hospitals — helping people and giving the community something they can be proud of,” Lee said.

The post New Northside Cherokee Hospital Set to Open May 6 appeared first on HCO News.

To combat the threat, the Foundation is teaming up with the Group Health Research Institute on a new national program designed to make primary care more efficient and effective.

The Primary Care Team: Learning from Effective Ambulatory Practices (LEAP) project aims to identify primary care practices that use health professionals and other staff in ways that optimize services.

The team will identify and study 30 high-functioning primary care practices to learn about innovative staffing arrangements that maximize health and staff contributions.

The LEAP project will identify changes in policy, workforce, culture, education and training related to primary care that can improve the way practices function.

The goal for the workforce models is to be replicated and adopted more widely.

The partnership comes at a time when millions of Americans may enter the health system if the Affordable Care Act is implemented.

“The Foundation’s mission is to improve health and health care, and we cannot succeed unless we address the shortage of primary care services,” said John Lumpkin, MD, MPH, RWJF senior vice president and director of the Health Care Group. “The nation will not be able to train new primary care providers quickly enough to meet the need, so part of the solution must be to use the workforce we have more effectively.”

The primary care team is headed by Ed Wagner, M.D., Ph.D., and Margaret Flinter, Ph.D., APRN. The MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle will serve as the national program office.

“Improving the quality of primary care is a key objective of health care reform. Central to the improvement of primary care is the development of effective primary care teams,” Wagner said. "We are delighted that this project will allow us to study some of the nation’s finest primary care practices and spread their staffing innovations to others.”

The criteria for selecting the exemplary primary care practices — which will represent a variety of settings, practice configurations and locations — will be developed by a national advisory committee chaired by Thomas S. Bodenheimer, MD, MPH, adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

After site visits conducted by the research team, the project will bring the sites together as a “learning community” to share best practices and to help distill innovations into a toolkit that can be used by others.

With initial RWJF funding to support the team through June 2014, the LEAP project is designed to identify those that improve patient and practice outcomes, and share information so they can be replicated.

Currently, little information exists on how existing creative workforce models have impacted health care access, quality, value and patient or provider experience — resulting in low implementation levels.

“This project is particularly important because it recognizes that there is tremendous diversity in primary care settings across the country, from small private practices to large health systems to community health centers,” Flinter said. “We need all of these practices to perform at the highest level.”

The post Provider Shortage Leads to Workforce Model Research appeared first on HCO News.