Healthcare is a constantly changing industry. Whether a healthcare organization is managing a small network of rural community health centers, a national network of acute care hospitals or everything in between, healthcare leadership teams must prepare for the future of healthcare today by meeting patients where they are and understanding the ways in which they will most need care.

Traditionally, leadership teams prepare for change by building a budget: How much money does our organization have to spend? What will be the best way to allocate those funds? Yet, if healthcare is changing, and what we’re budgeting for is changing, then how we budget must also change. This is why an organization’s budget must reflect its business strategy, rather than crafting the strategy around the budget, to anticipate new developments and prepare for long-term needs.

1. Start with strategy.

Strategy and budget conversations should start with considering the big picture and the organization’s overall goals. Where are we going? Where do we want to deploy our assets? How do we want to operate? What outcomes are we looking for? Understanding what your organization wants to achieve as a whole is vital to know how to achieve it. Only after these questions are answered should we ask budgeting questions: What is the cost associated with executing the strategic plan we developed?

While this looks simple on paper, your budget will inevitably see challenges. However, by building the strategy first, long-term goals can act as a guide for any necessary adjustments.

2. Anticipate challenges.

Building a strategy is not a one-and-done activity. Neither, for that matter, is budgeting. Continuous conversations are necessary, and budget adjustments should center on adopting new, strategic priorities and adapting to environmental changes.

One challenge that doesn’t seem to fit this rule is when an organization’s proposed budget and the preconceived notion of what something costs are mismatched. After formulating a budget, leaders may find the actual cost of executing a strategic goal exceeds what they had initially anticipated. At first glance, this appears to challenge just the budget and may prompt leaders to calculate what they can do with a lesser amount of money, leading to an unproductive loop of juggling numbers and adjusting tactics to make the numbers work.

Instead, revisit the strategy and the reasons why this project and this budget were proposed. From there, adjust the high-cost program or project to work within the available resources to generate improved outcomes in the long run.

Reviewing priorities, examining changes in the environment or program scope, and identifying new goals to consider is a dynamic learning and adjusting exercise that healthcare organizations should conduct year-round. At the end of the day, though, any changes to the budget must tie back into the strategy.

3. Prepare for the long term.

Understanding and optimizing population health is an essential aspect of providing reliable community care. As populations and communities transform, previously successful investment approaches will yield different outcomes in the future. Healthcare organizations must align their long-term investments with their community’s needs and overall organizational goals. Certain tactics in the past have regularly and reliably increased revenue for organizations. However, without taking into consideration patients’ changing medical needs, those traditional means of increasing revenue may not remain profitable.

This outlook will change how organizations plan for the long term. For example, if your organization has several facilities where the local population is aging, surgeries may be the most prominent services provided. However, if the population is primarily families with young children, facilities may need to plan for more pediatric care. The larger your organization, the more likely it is to need to take both of these communities into consideration. Recognizing these population trends will allow healthcare leaders to identify investments for long-term gains.

Healthcare leaders have a unique opportunity to develop plans to succeed and provide the necessary care in a constantly developing healthcare environment. We are the changemakers who can align our strategies with the current and future needs of our communities. Only when we establish what we need to accomplish for our patients can we build the framework to make it happen.

Imran A. Andrabi, MD, FAAFP, is the president and chief executive officer of ThedaCare, a community, not-for-profit health system consisting of eight hospitals, 7,000 team members and more than 180 points of care in Northeast and Central Wisconsin.

Dan Scher currently serves as the Vice President of Strategic Planning & Environmental Stewardship for Medxcel, leading master planning, facility design and the Environmental Stewardship Program.

The post The Future of Healthcare Budgets Starts with Strategy appeared first on HCO News.

Tornado season takes place from February to March in the South and April to June in the Plains and Midwest. It is an annual occurrence that healthcare facilities must be protected against and prepared for, as the results could be catastrophic to your patients, staff and infrastructure. While 2021’s tornado season was billed to be unpredictable, April saw a below average numbers of tornados – the lowest this century – while May only had an outbreak of weaker, smaller tornadoes.

But not all years will be like the tornado season of 2021. Though we’re almost in the clear this year, it’s never too early to start preparing for next year, as a thorough emergency preparedness plan takes a good deal of time, effort and talent.

Learn the three steps healthcare facilities should take now to ensure staff can act quickly during the next tornado season – a time when every second counts.

Prepare your staff

The first thing you can do to prepare your facility is to make sure your associates are prepared – not just at your facility, but in their own lives. Provide your employees with personal emergency response plans that they can share with their families, friends and neighbors to bring them peace of mind during a disaster, so they can maintain focus on taking care of patients.

This Safety and Emergency Toolkit (SET) should include an emergency supply checklist with items such as flashlights, extra clothes, whistles, important paperwork, first aid kit, water (one gallon per person per day, three-day supply), maps, hygiene products, warm blankets (one per person) and more. These plans can be used not just for tornado season, but for hurricanes, snowstorms, fires and even biological exposure. Add these emergency-specific points to review so families and friends are prepared for an array of emergencies.

For tornadoes, include the following:

• Keep a list of outdoor items that must be secured in high wind conditions.
• Listen to the radio or TV for information.
• Unless told to evacuate, stay indoors, below ground if possible, and keep away from windows and glass.
• Close interior doors, brace exterior doors and keep blinds closed.
• Take refuge in a small interior room, closet or hallway on the lowest level.
• Lie on the floor or under a sturdy object such as a table, to protect from falling debris.

Finally, ensure your team frequently updates a phone list in the plan with emergency family, school or work contacts. Have them practice their SET plan with their loved ones to make sure it works and that every person understands their responsibilities. When you put your associates first, and ensure they know their families are safe in an emergency, they can then properly care for the patients that need it most.

Create an all-hazards plan

The all-hazards plan is the foundation of how your facility can respond in an emergency. Emergency Management is a multi-disciplinary effort, and an emergency management team’s strength is in the ability to help a facility through coordinating responses, following procedures and maintaining safety for all. Different from a hurricane, tornadoes are an acute event, meaning there isn’t much time between knowing that a tornado is imminent and bracing for impact.

Plans must be specific to your facility’s size, shape and location, its unique risks and your local response organizations that may assist in a crisis. Items should include pre-impact actions, safe shelter locations, accountability procedures, horizontal and vertical evacuation, building damage assessments and plans for communication. Communication must be clear, accurate and rapid in order to be effective – skip the code blues and use plain language when relaying important information to patients, staff and visitors. Depending on the community, information may need to be repeated in different languages. Also ensure the facility is prepped with communication alternatives such as satellite phones, HAM radios and mass notification systems should infrastructure become damaged. Strongly consider partnering with a national communications program to help your facility one step further. As cell phone lines become clogged up mid-disaster, these national programs can operate on a separate band and can provide mobile hotspots with cellular data so that communication is quickly restored. Once plans are in place, schedule regular training to ensure the plan is followed and updated so that emergency preparedness always remains top-of-mind.

Understand your facility’s vulnerabilities

Now is the time to also conduct a hazard vulnerability assessment throughout your facility to determine where issues could arise and what areas are safe. For states with a higher risk of tornadoes, there should be a hardened exterior structure in place with sturdier windows, safer interior rooms, and garage door entrances for emergency departments and vehicles. Your tornado plan should also include contingencies on what’s happening on top or outside of your facility due to construction, outdoor work, etc. These will need to be considered when/if a tornado occurs. Additionally, know exactly where your emergency supplies are located and how they can be accessed in case of disaster. During the 2011 Joplin, Missouri, tornado, a local hospital was unable to access their disaster equipment, as it was stored in a single location that became inaccessible due to damage.

A tornado can wreak havoc in an instant, and if your healthcare facility is ill-equipped or underprepared next year, the consequences can be fatal. Your facility team can’t have a muscle memory response if you haven’t thought about it. When a tornado goes from watch to warning, will your facility be ready?

Scott Cormier is the Vice President of Emergency Management, Environment of Care (EOC) and Safety at Medxcel; he leads the development and implementation of emergency management, general safety and accident-prevention programs for a national network of hospitals that Medxcel serves.

The post Equip Your Healthcare Facility for Next Year’s Tornado Season appeared first on HCO News.

The $400 billion healthcare construction industry has seen its fair share of change over the years. From new materials and the latest technological advances to updated building standards set by the Facility Guidelines Institute and reviewed by The Joint Commission, healthcare construction is constantly evolving. While many trends in the industry come and go, pre-fabrication and modular construction – one of the biggest trends in healthcare today – is here to stay.

Put simply, modular construction is the process of constructing a building off-site through the use of modules, then fitting them together in a pre-planned order at the job site. The Modular Building Institute further defines the process as construction “under controlled plant conditions, using the same materials and designing to the same codes and standards as conventionally built facilities, but in about half the time.”

As with any new trend, it’s important to consider the advantages and challenges before moving forward. Let’s dive first into the benefits of pursuing modular construction.

Benefits of modular construction.

Reduced time.

One of the most common phrases you’ll hear in modular construction is “speed to market.” Modular construction considerably cuts down on the time needed to build a facility, meaning more patients can be admitted into your healthcare facility faster. Though both modular and regular construction processes start with a detailed design plan, permit approvals and groundbreaking, modular construction soon pulls ahead. As the foundation and excavation is taking place at the job site, the modular facility is being built in an off-site factory at the exact same time. That means no delays from the groundbreaking process or inclement weather. What takes some construction projects 12 months to complete can be finished in just 60-90 days through modular construction.

Lowered costs.

Affordability is another significant benefit of modular construction. Costly delays are avoided due to modularity’s quality control. There are specialized inspections in place as modules are constructed and moved down the assembly line. This strategy catches and corrects defects as they appear, without affecting other areas of the project. As modular construction becomes the norm, the overall cost to manufacturers will also continue to decrease.

Reliability and repeatability.

All in all, modular construction has a very reliable format and timeline. The process is incredibly streamlined. As the modules are completed in a controlled environment where materials and quality of work is checked before, during and after, your team can take comfort in knowing that the project is getting done without an impacted timeline or budget. Once you’ve built one healthcare facility with modular construction, your branding standard can easily be repeated with facilities of the same type, too. Future facilities can take on a standardized look, feel and color that’ll be familiar to your associates and patients.

Challenges of modular construction.

Modular construction isn’t without its disadvantages. Since the construction happens off-site, the modules of your new facility will need to be carefully rigged and transported directly to the job site. The transportation process requires delicate care, as one mishap in transit can result in significant repairs. Additionally, the operation requires more complex decision making for design, material selection and coordination much earlier in the process, effectively “front-loading” the project team’s involvement before the typical start of construction due to modularity’s quick turnaround. Similar to manufacturing environments, once the process is underway revisions to design and materials will have a significant impact on the manufacturing schedule. With that, even though the overall cost is reduced, the initial fees early on are likely to be higher. Connect with your manufacturer early in the process to understand anticipated costs, timing and decisions.

For your consideration.

As modular construction becomes more prevalent in the healthcare sector and you weigh the pros and cons, you may wonder: Why should our industry embrace this trend? To help determine if modular construction is right for your next healthcare facility project, evaluate three elements with your potential manufacturing partner:

1. Capability: Does the manufacturer of the final project have the capability to do what they say they can do? Look into the manufacturer’s recent achievements and if they’ve utilized pre-fabrication and/or modules in the past.
2. Capacity: Does the manufacturer have the capacity to produce your vision? Too often, a manufacturer’s capability and capacity do not match.
3. Maturity: What is the manufacturer’s maturity? Are there thousands of workers available with an existing distribution channel that can handle the volume coming their way? Are the required materials available or on-site? An ample supply chain and experience in the field is crucial.

Going from blueprints to ribbon cutting is an arduous process, but with modular construction, it doesn’t have to be. Building a multi-functional healthcare facility that will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week isn’t just a goal, it’s a necessity. Modular construction helps set the foundation for your next healthcare project by doing just the opposite – setting it off-site.

Mike Wood is the Vice President of Planning, Design, Construction & Energy at Medxcel, specializing in the creation, direction, organization and administration of Medxcel’s national construction portfolio.

The post Modular Construction in Healthcare: Preparations, Advantages and Challenges appeared first on HCO News.

First identified in the U.S. in January 2020, the coronavirus has created massive changes in the country, as cases skyrocketed from single digits to millions in a matter of months. Global emergencies such as the coronavirus often strike without warning, leaving many hospitals and healthcare providers scrambling for solutions.

When the pandemic hit, facilities’ operations and emergency management plans had to be quickly adapted to the new disease. The crisis challenged hospitals to develop new approaches to manage population health and services when time, money and resources became scarce. As stay-at-home orders lifted and states began to reopen, some as early as mid-April, hospitals were faced with a “new normal” and a new task: What do we do now to continue fighting this pandemic, how do we ensure the health of our patients outside of COVID, and how can we be more prepared for the next crisis?

It’s crucial that hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country learn how to adapt and thrive now, to be ready for when, not if, this happens again. Below are three steps your facility can take into action today to plan for tomorrow.

Implement emergency management and frequently update plans.

Having a well-established emergency management (EM) program lays the foundation for successfully addressing any unexpected crises. Planning for, responding to, and recovering from a crisis is a multi-disciplinary effort, and an EM program’s and team’s strength is in the ability to help a facility through coordinating responses, planning through the disaster, and maintaining safety in times of uncertainty.

Investing time and money into emergency management is often falsely associated strictly with revenue depletion or merely a regulatory requirement, which can cause some hospitals to implement a program with little resources or support. Additionally, sometimes hospitals may be tempted to tuck it under another hospital leader’s already full task list or relegate it to an inexperienced individual. But failing to dedicate the time and resources to this essential function can be detrimental when disaster hits.

Emergency management is more than just regulations. It also involves the expertise developed through planning and implementation, and the relationships built at the local, state, national and even global level. To create a successful program, it’s important not to create one with the goal of just meeting minimum regulatory requirements or saving money, but rather to ensure all facilities are prepared to serve their communities during great times of need. Those that implement a comprehensive EM program in their facility improve their overall environment and will be more prepared to serve their patients and their community in the long run.

Establish a diverse team of experts.

Take your facility’s preparedness one step further by having the EM team designate an additional group of subject matter experts to tackle problems both within the facility and the multi-system organization as a whole. With this team, members can prepare guidance and navigate communication channels as they act as a liaison between the EM team, patients and staff. It’s important to gather top experts in a variety of fields – engineering, EM, operations, technology, construction, facilities management and more – to ensure all bases are covered within your facility.

Working in a variety of fields means the experts will be able to monitor facilities’ activity and adapt quickly to any situation in real-time during an emergency. This diverse team can collaborate and create solutions for what facilities need to do to adjust processes and programs to ensure safety. Maintaining this team even after the current emergency is crucial. Set up quarterly meetings with this group of experts to collaborate on and update existing plans, discover new resources and inspire fresh ideas for the EM team.

Pivot all plans, operations and processes.

It’s a much more seamless process when a plan is proactively developed before disaster strikes, as opposed to reacting and creating an emergency plan after it has already occurred. By pivoting standard processes and procedures to fit a pandemic and post-pandemic era, patients are able to recover without the disease continuing or spreading to other areas of the hospital. Many hospitals were caught off guard by trying to strengthen their EM program or cache of supplies after COVID arrived, and proved that it was difficult, if not impossible, to catch up.

Shifting a hospital’s operational plans, processes and programs isn’t an easy task, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Some operational tasks that can change include building additional negative pressure rooms to care for confirmed or suspected patients, establishing mobile screening sites to meet patients where they are, and working with partners outside of the healthcare market to procure a robust supply chain (including PPE, air scrubbers, mobile morgues, emergency tents and more) that may be difficult to find in the middle of an emergency.

Infrastructure changes should also be carefully evaluated, such as adding plexiglass shields, reconfiguring crowded lobbies into socially distanced spaces or building new ways to direct foot traffic. Increased signage will also become the norm, in addition to advanced cleaning measures and temperature screening for employees and visitors. These changes in plans will be just a few of the ways that facilities will need to adapt to improve their environments for the future.

Final thoughts.

While we can’t know when COVID-19 will be cured or when the next crisis will happen, emergency management is vital year-round. Implementing a formal and structured EM program and frequently updating plans, collaborating with a team of experts, and pivoting operations to a “new normal” will help facilities be prepared today, tomorrow, and throughout the future.

Scott Cormier is the Vice President of Emergency Management, Environment of Care (EOC) and Safety at Medxcel, specializing in facilities management, safety, environment of care, and emergency management; he provides healthcare service support products and drives in-house capabilities, saving and efficiencies for healthcare organizations that, in turn, improve the overall healing environment for patients and staff.

The post Improving Post-COVID Healthcare Facilities for the Next Emergency appeared first on HCO News.

INDIANAPOLIS-There was a time when doctors came to the homes of patients so often that the term “house call” effectively entered the language during the early decades of the last century.  In fact, Jason “JD” Duigou, the chief information officer at Indianapolis-based Medxcel, says that nearly half of all doctor visits during the 1930s and ’40s were for home-based care. 

The practice practically ceased to exist by the close of the 20th century, but thanks to internet technology and the rise of video conference apps, virtual remote care is rapidly becoming the wave of healthcare’s present. Whether it’s telemedicine in psychiatry or virtual check-ups, virtual remote care is here to stay.

“Now, instead of opening a door, patients simply need to open an app,” Duigou said in a recent writing.  “Telehealth is putting a 21^st century spin on the old-fashioned house call [ensuring] patients receive the best care at the right time and right place by increasing accessibility to doctors, physicians and specialists.”

“Telehealth” isn’t meant to replace traditional medicine, Duigou said, since accidents and emergencies still require in-person care to properly diagnose and treat, but virtual consultations can assist with an array of non-emergency problems ranging from anxiety and depression to the common cold and even post-operative follow-up discussions.

Telehealth also allows doctors to “travel” to patients who might be otherwise immobile.  Duigo said the process is also a cost-saver, allowing more patients to be diagnosed in a shorter time frame rather than queuing in a doctor’s office or emergency room. 

“The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that, on average, $86.64 is saved each time a patient receives their care online versus in a clinic or ER,” he said.  “When multiplied by hundreds of patients each day, the fiscal benefits of telehealth programs alone are astronomical.”

Furthermore, beds in an emergency room setting are often in short supply, and Duigo estimates that nearly three-quarters of ER or urgent care clinic visits could just as easily have been handled virtually. 

“Although telehealth is emerging at a fast pace, healthcare as we know it has been undergoing a major shift to population health with smaller, community-based healthcare facilities,” he said.  “This requires a shift in mindset for facilities management leaders where they should be developing a mobile workforce strategy that will take those same facilities management services provided within the walls of a large hospital and become equipped to service smaller ambulatory centers.”

Duigou reiterates that telehealth cannot fully replace traditional in-person care, especially for specializations like heart and lung care that require constant monitoring.  However, more specialized centers of care, called “boutique hospitals,” will become more of the norm in this newer virtual sphere. 

Technology will also play a crucial part in this new paradigm.

“Wearable technology such as Fitbits or heart rate monitors will continue to inform patients about healthcare data in real time and allow them to share with their doctor,” Duigou said. “Doctors can be linked in to patients’ ongoing health and can utilize telehealth’s applications should an issue arise. … Already, we’re seeing elderly patients with cognitive reasoning and communication issues operate virtual reality headsets to help foster their interactions.

“As the telehealth revolution continues to boom, facility managers must adapt to the virtual changes,” he said.  “While hospitals will never be truly nonexistent, telehealth is paving the way for a new era of care.”

The post Healthcare Exec Shares Insights on 21st Century ‘House Calls’ appeared first on HCO News.

INDIANAPOLIS-Medxcel Vice President, Program Development, Support and FM Compliance Officer Larry Lacombe is quick to stress the importance of regulatory compliance in the healthcare field.  Lacombe is in charge of developing and implementing compliance programs for Medxcel to ensure that his firm’s nationwide network of hospitals is survey-ready, anytime of the day or night, for the Indianapolis-based company.

However, just being ready isn’t enough, Lacombe emphasizes.  Rather, continuing staff education to ensure they are up to date on the latest developments in regularly compliance is key to heading off potential problems later on. Particularly for new staff, utilizing onboarding buddies, or something similar can be a good way to ensure training is up to date.

“When it comes to maintaining regulatory compliance, education is oftentimes the most difficult part.  Particularly in situations when staff are accustomed to doing things in a certain way, it can be tough to persuade the team to adhere to new compliance-related procedures,” Lacombe said in a recent letter sent out by Medxcel.  “However, with more than 629 discrete regulatory requirements across nine domains, it’s apparent why compliance education is so crucial. With so many regulations, there’s a lot to consider.”

Lacombe believes that because regulatory compliance is such a complex organism, training should be fluid and ongoing and not left until it is too late, i.e., after a problem has already manifested itself.

Staff can sometimes be slow to adapting to new rules and regulations, but Lacombe said that with proper training, healthcare staff and facilities will more be better able to comply with newer and expanding requirements. 

“Healthcare leadership should implement these education programs as soon as possible to ensure its success,” he said.  “Programs should also be developed with intent in mind.

“Of course, the ultimate objective is to comply with all requirements; however, healthcare facilities should also consider the education’s other purposes. This will help to develop curriculum and provide staff with fine-tuned programs.”

The executive believes that compliance procedures must be internally standardized so that the entire staff follows the same guidelines during training and beyond, and that is up to management to ensure that guidelines are explained to staff in a way that is easy to understand and implement.    

“Regulatory compliance is complicated.  In order to safeguard a facility against errors and subsequent fines, an important part of regulatory compliance education is remaining open-minded and shifting plans as needed,” Lacombe said of the need to evaluate how training implementation is proceeding.  “Sometimes after a process is set in place, facilities later find out there’s a more efficient way of operating. The important thing is to remain flexible.

“Leadership should always evaluate any sort of process or educational program following implementation and adapt as necessary.  Furthermore, adapting plans will help to increase transparency within facilities.”

A better way to ensure that regulatory compliance training holds up is to include staff in the decisions and implementation, said Lacombe.  This means staff-and, ultimately, the facility-are more apt to remain in compliance as they feel they have something at stake as well. 

Medxcel’s business operations entail savings and efficiencies for healthcare organizations in the belief that this improves the environment for patients and staff in the long run.

“As you develop your regulatory compliance education, remember how important it is to properly educate staff and adhere to all regulatory requirements,” said Lacombe.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Medxcel is connecting its emergency management teams to FirstNet —  public safety’s dedicated communications platform. This tech upgrade allows Medxcel to equip eligible hospital personnel with new capabilities and reliable wireless access to critical information, so they can better serve patients at its facilities across the country.

Medxcel serves healthcare organizations nationwide with an approach that fully integrates facilities management, emergency management and compliance to ensure a safe healing environment 24/7. Adopting the FirstNet communications platform will minimize the common roadblock of communication challenges during emergency or disaster events, helping Medxcel’s emergency management teams to seamlessly implement emergency preparedness plans during a disaster.

“Providing emergency management to 161 hospitals across 21 states requires us to make sure we have the best communication systems available,” said Scott Cormier, vice president of Emergency Management, Environment of Care and Safety, Medxcel. “FirstNet gives us the reliability to help maintain communications during disasters, so our teams can coordinate patient needs while also staying in close contact with our first responder partners to prep for in-bound care.”

FirstNet is designed to improve communications across public safety entities nationwide – including emergency management teams and hospital personnel. This allows first responders, including emergency management teams, to easily and quickly communicate with one another during everyday situations, big events or emergencies. Medxcel’s emergency management teams across all 161 hospitals are now equipped with FirstNet to help create clear lines of communication between emergency management teams, eligible hospital personnel and first responders in the field. 

The decision to join FirstNet follows Medxcel’s use of the technology during Hurricane Michael in October 2018. “The communications infrastructure in Gulf County, FL was devastated,” states Cormier, “but with FirstNet technology and resources from our communication partners, we were able to keep our hospital and physician practices open to serve our communities.  There were two other hospitals in the region who made the decision to close, which meant keeping our hospitals open was vital to the recovery of our neighborhoods.”   

FirstNet is being built with AT&T in public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority). It’s designed with and for public safety and emergency management teams to give them the modern communications tools they need to keep themselves and those they serve safer.

“We’re honored that Medxcel chose FirstNet to further elevate their communications capabilities and help ensure they can perform at the highest levels during emergency events,” said Maria Lensing, vice president of Global Healthcare Solutions – AT&T Business. “We’re privileged to play a part in fueling transformation in healthcare through technology and provide a connectivity platform with unmatched capabilities like FirstNet.  And we applaud Medxcel for helping to lead the way.”

“FirstNet is the exclusive communications platform built with AT&T for public safety, inspired by public safety – there is no substitution for this network that they fought for,” said Edward Parkinson, Acting CEO, FirstNet Authority. “We look forward to supporting Medxcel and all of their client healthcare organizations’ emergency management communities with FirstNet, making sure it delivers what they need, when they need it.”

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Health Affairs reports that 81 percent of US physicians in four common specialties reported they spend more time and effort dealing with quality measures than three years ago. Only 27 percent of those surveyed said current measures represent the quality of care they provide. 

When CMS launched its “Patients Over Paperwork” initiative last year, they embarked in a process to identify what stakeholders consider burdens. As CMS continues to update and streamline their procedures to free up time and costs, healthcare facilities must take advantage of their newfound assets.

Here’s an outline onhow healthcare providers can take advantage of CMS’s reduced burdens, including:

• Invest in projects you’ve been putting off
• Unify systems across multiple hospitals
• Focus on your ambulatory care strategy

Regulation is necessary to ensure healthcare providers and facilities uphold nationwide standards in patient care. While accreditation strengthens patient safety, measures quality and safety of care, and holds healthcare providers accountable to their patients and the community they serve, federal regulation requires that healthcare providers meet minimum standards – or face penalties if they fall short.

Regulation and accreditation are both important, but it takes a great deal of physicians’ time. Health Affairs reports that 81 percent of US physicians in four common specialties reported they spend more time and effort dealing with quality measures than three years ago. Only 27 percent of those surveyed said current measures represent the quality of care they provide.

Ensuring facilities are meeting and exceeding standards of patient care should not be a burden. When CMS  proposed a rule to remove “unnecessary, obsolete or excessively burdensome Medicare compliance requirements for healthcare facilities.”

Less red tape means less paperwork, and more time for everything else. How can healthcare facilities take advantage of CMS’s reduced burdens?

Invest in projects you’ve been putting off.

When CMS launched its “Patients Over Paperwork” initiative last year, they embarked in a process to identify what stakeholders consider burdens. They found “3,040 mentions of burden,” which CMS then categorized as relating to “1,146 different issues.” Since CMS has begun addressing these issues, and with the current initiatives to remove the unnecessary and excessively burdensome requirements, “CMS projects savings of nearly $5.2 billion and a reduction of 53 million hours through 2021. That results in saving 6,000 years of burden hours over the next three years.”

Imagine the projects your healthcare facility could invest in over the next several years with a fraction of that savings. Before you begin looking at renovation blueprints, though, evaluate the projects highest on your list from a patient-care standpoint. If CMS is allowing you to reallocate time and money from burdensome Medicare processes, begin your exploration with systems, investments and procedures that will renew focus on patient care within your facility.

Unify systems across multiple hospitals.

As CMS notes, many of their new proposals will “simplify and streamline Medicare’s conditions of participation, conditions for coverage, and other requirements for participation for facilities.” This will allow organizations to meet health and safety standards more efficiently.

With the goal of efficiency in mind, additional proposals will “allow multi-hospital systems to have unified and integrated Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement programs for all of their member hospitals.” Just as implementing standardized processes in a single hospital can help tackle new regulations, standardizing measurements and assessments across multiple hospitals can help facilities track their metrics on one scale, remain ahead of the curve for changes in best practices or new regulations, and further lower costs beyond the initial time-savings of lessened paperwork.

Focus on your ambulatory care strategy.

As healthcare strategies move further into the acute-care space, hospitals must reconcile their focus of hospital-centered care to ambulatory-centered care. CMS claims their new provisions will also “streamline hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center requirements for conducting comprehensive medical histories and physical assessments.” A hospital or healthcare system that can provide all the services a patient needs in one (physical or technological) place – from general practitioners and specialists to telehealth advising and efficient follow-up care – will not only retain clients beyond the acute space but may even draw more patients via its ambulatory system.

Final thoughts.

As CMS continues to update and streamline their procedures to free up time and costs, healthcare facilities must take advantage of their newfound assets. From surveying associates to investing in new systems to implementing best practices across multiple hospitals or developing a strong ambulatory care strategy, CMS’s proposals to lift unnecessary regulations should not only relieve burdens on those working directly with Medicare, but for all associates in the healthcare system.

Larry Lacombe is the Vice President of Program Development and Facilities Compliance at Medxcel, specializing in facilities management, safety, environment of care, emergency management and compliance. Medxcel provides healthcare service support products and drives in-house capabilities, savings and efficiencies for healthcare organizations. 

The post Relieving Federal Burdens on Healthcare Facilities and how Providers can Utilize Savings appeared first on HCO News.

When it comes to design, pediatric healthcare units are different. The tiny patients they care for in these spaces not only require special care, but they require special design choices, too.

However, there’s a fine line between child-friendly and childish. Pediatric healthcare units should incite playfulness and provide hope for all the young patients they serve, without seeming ostentatious. They should also provide adequate space for the parents, guardians and loved ones who will be by these patients’ sides.

These unique units may come at a higher price for facilities to design and construct, but research shows it’s well worth the investment. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, nearly 6 million hospital stays involve adolescents. Not to mention, nearly 3 million of those are neonatal stays. Planning and design doesn’t have to break the bank, though – pediatric healthcare units can be developed in a cost-effective and thoughtful manner to ensure sublime patient care and economical design.

Consider the four following design elements when creating a well-planned pediatric unit: 

Family spaces

While the main focus of a pediatric unit is the patient, children are unique in that they often have parents or guardians who will be by their side throughout the duration of their stay. Because of this, there needs to be a great focus on family space. Families and patients should be accommodated in a comfortable and thoughtful environment. 

Moreover, family spaces must also address the domestic needs of families. Consider incorporating areas for cooking, laundry, bathing and even sleeping. Since these guests will likely spend a considerable amount of time in these facilities, it’s important they’re still able to accomplish some of their day-to-day responsibilities as well, without the added stress of leaving the hospital.

Other unique accommodations can include meditative spaces, sibling lounges, complimentary Wi-Fi and public computers.

Positive engagement

While healthy children spend their time playing outdoors, coloring and watching movies, children in pediatric care units can quickly lose sight of these fun activities and the playfulness that is childhood. To provide the best patient care possible, facilities should implement positive distractions into their units.

Examples of these engagements range from interactive butterfly walls and bright colors to outdoor play spaces and high-tech gathering spaces. Designers should strive to make things as normal as possible for these children. These units allow for a lot of creativity within the healthcare space, providing a lot of opportunity to integrate unique elements. 

Healing environment

The ultimate goal for any patient is that they’re able to fully and progressively heal. This shouldn’t be forgotten during the planning, design and construction phase, either, as providing a healing environment for patients could make all the difference.

Consider natural light, noise control, privacy and positive distractions when designing these spaces. For children, it’s also especially important that they have access to outdoor areas, as they provide playful and healing environments. Ways to incorporate outdoor spaces into healing environments could include gardens and playgrounds that let kids be kids. Indoor/outdoor connections can minimize stress for children and families, too.

If possible, treatment rooms should be kept separate from patient rooms to foster healing in those spaces as well.

Safety

While safety should be an upmost concern for all patients, it’s especially pertinent when it involves children. Elements such as security cameras, timed access cards, limited-access elevators, alarm systems and well-defined signage should all be incorporated into pediatric care units. Outdoor play areas should also be properly secured.

Child patients require unique amenities, arrangements and care in pediatric facilities. However, by integrating special features and emphasizing healing, well designed facilities can assist in transitioning patients back into their homes in a cost-effective manner.

Dan Scher is vice president of planning, design and construction at Medxcel.

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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.”

The post Medxcel Emphasizes Tornado Preparedness in Healthcare appeared first on HCO News.