PHILADELPHIA—Penn Medicine is launching a new community mental health hub at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — Cedar Avenue (HUP Cedar), co-locating inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care with a new crisis response center (CRC) at the facility. The multi-year plan will put crucial psychiatric and substance use care in easy reach for West and Southwest Philadelphia residents, at a time when both mental illness and drug and alcohol dependence are surging in the city.

The project will begin with moving inpatient psychiatric and drug and alcohol detoxification units from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center to HUP Cedar in July, followed by the opening of a new crisis response center at the facility later in the summer which is expected to provide an estimated 4,000 patient visits each year. The steps will create two comprehensive, fully integrated mental health hubs at Penn Medicine facilities in Philadelphia, offering emergency mental health services and inpatient and outpatient care at both HUP Cedar and Pennsylvania Hospital, which has operated a CRC since 1999. Together, Pennsylvania Hospital and HUP Cedar will have 73 licensed inpatient psychiatric beds and 16 beds for substance use treatment. Additional space at HUP Cedar will allow for expansion of coordinated services to further care for West and Southwest Philadelphia communities over the next five years.

As one of the nation’s largest cities, Philadelphia’s mental health struggles are a microcosm of broader trends: A Pew Research Center survey from late 2022 reported that 41 percent of Americans — and nearly 60 percent of young adults — have experienced high levels of psychological distress at least once since the early stages of the pandemic. At the same time, more than two-thirds of Americans live in areas without sufficient psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. In Philadelphia, more than 20 percent of the city’s residents are coping with a diagnosed depressive disorder and substance use-related deaths have climbed to record levels.

Similar to the CRC at Pennsylvania Hospital, the HUP Cedar CRC — which will replace the CRC previously operated on the site by Mercy Philadelphia Hospital until its closure in March of 2020 — will be licensed as a crisis intervention walk-in facility and will serve as a discreet psychiatric emergency room, providing triage, evaluation, treatment and social services support for acute substance use and serious psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, major depression, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia.

The co-location of the inpatient psychiatric units with emergency care provided through the CRC will enable a seamless transition of care for patients, eliminating the wait time and additional steps required to transfer patients to inpatient units at other facilities — a common occurrence in a city where emergency psychiatric resources remain in short supply.

Staff at both CRC locations will be connected via a real-time data system providing details on bed availability in order to ensure patients can be placed as quickly as possible and that each location has the right staffing resources. Penn Presbyterian will continue to provide select outpatient psychiatric care as well treatment for substance use disorders after the transition of inpatient services to HUP Cedar.

HUP Cedar is part of the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar, which opened in March 2021, transitioning the building from the former Mercy Philadelphia Hospital into a campus offering emergency and inpatient care as well as primary care and community-driven social supports.

Penn Medicine will invest $5.76M toward the opening of the CRC at HUP Cedar as part of the mental health hub project. The CRC reopening has also received a grant from the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, and the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health earmarked $4.1 million in HealthChoices reinvestment funds.

In addition to Penn Medicine’s adult mental health services on the site, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia plans to open an inpatient pediatric behavioral health facility, the CHOP Behavioral Health & Crisis Center, on the site, as well. The 46-bed acute inpatient psychiatric facility and 24/7 walk-in crisis center will create a safe, inclusive and restorative setting for children and adolescents.

The second phase of the new mental health hub plan will also increase care capacity at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), by converting the vacated psychiatric beds to medical surgical units. Those steps will help to improve patient movement across the hospital, reducing emergency department wait times and providing additional capacity for post-surgery recovery.

The new services at HUP Cedar are part of Penn Medicine’s wraparound commitment to bringing more mental health care support to the community across each of its mission areas. Penn Integrated Care (PIC), a program, which embeds mental health professionals in primary care practices, launched in 2018. More than 230,000 patients in 24 Penn Medicine primary clinics have access to PIC services. To date, 35,000 patients have been treated directly by PIC clinicians or connected to specialty care in the community.

Beginning this summer, the health system will add a new path for training fellows in drug and alcohol use treatment. That program, for physicians specializing in family medicine, primary care, and emergency medicine, among other disciplines, aims to ensure that providers in multiple settings are equipped to help patients take steps toward recovery and provides a much-needed addition to the existing fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at Penn Medicine and the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CMC VAMC) in Philadelphia. In addition, a new consultation service provides psychiatric care to patients hospitalized for complex medical needs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Future plans include potential opening of a medical-psychiatric unit to ensure that patients with these complex needs are cared for in dedicated spaces.

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PHILADELPHIA—One of the country’s largest healthcare equipment sterilization facilities recently opened in Philadelphia, the result of a design process where meticulous space planning and MEP design were essential. Stantec designed Penn Medicine’s 110,000-square-foot Interventional Support Center (ISC), which serves as an offsite central equipment sterilization and processing facility.

Stantec led the project management, architecture, interior, and MEP designs for the facility. As part of its early role in project planning, a team of Stantec industrial engineers observed operations at one of Penn Medicine’s existing sterilization facilities and conducted time motion studies and simulation modeling. This was done to model the flow of case carts through the new facility, eliminating bottlenecks.

The facility features N+1 redundancy in all building systems, including full-facility generator backup. Air systems include HEPA filtration with frequent air changes, resulting in a nearly dust-free environment.

Located in Southwest Philadelphia, the ISC is the first facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. In this space, staff will both sterilize and package thousands of instruments each day in preparation for surgeries and procedures — from basic scissors and clamps to advanced robotic instruments.

The ISC is designed to process instruments from up to 200 surgical cases each day. Penn purchased the entire building in 2018 and built a physical plant to support the ISC’s operations.

The ISC now combines instrument processing services from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH), as well as three outpatient facilities: the Perelman Center, Penn Medicine Radnor, and the Tuttleman Center. The Pavilion — also known as HUP East — will also be supported by the ISC when it opens this fall.

In addition to providing hospital locations with much-needed real estate for patient care, consolidating these services off-site helps to minimize any redundant equipment across the health system. The ISC itself was designed with efficiency in mind – built with Six Sigma expertise, it is designed with a one-way forward flow approach that enables efficient instrument processing. The facility includes features that enhance sterilization efficiency, such as the use of clean steam using reverse osmosis water. The ISC will be a nearly dust-free facility thanks to increased air changes and filtration. Airlocks throughout the building also prevent cross-contamination of air between areas where dirty instruments are process and clean ones are repackaged.

The ISC team currently consists of 140 employees coming together from on-site instrument processing facilities at HUP and PAH. In addition, 25 new employees were hired to staff the new building. The facility was created with ergonomic principles and employee well-being in mind, enabling a comfortable workspace for the ISC team members. All major equipment allows for personalized adjustments for staff, such as height adjustable sinks and assembly tables.

“Clean instruments are a crucial component of patient safety. Through centralized processing with state-of-the-art equipment, the ISC is an important element behind Penn Medicine’s efforts to continue delivering high-quality, advanced patient care and safety,” said Phil Okala, Chief Operating Officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “The ISC also stands as a unique, leading example for multi-hospital health systems looking to create improved processing systems and thoughtfully plan the best ways to maximize capacity for patient care.”

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PHILADELPHIA—With the coronavirus pandemic having shut down much of the U.S. economy the past few months, and new cases of COVID-19 continuing to be reported, one healthcare construction project in the City of Brotherly Love has been ramped up to be able to treat patients as quickly as possible.

The Penn Medicine hospital tower, located in Philadelphia’s University City section, had already been under construction since May 2017. According to Engineering News Record, the project, which is called “The Pavilion,” was due to be completed in 2021, but in the wake of Philadelphia’s coronavirus outbreak, officials as well as workers at general contractor IMC Construction have revved up the pace of the work. According to ENR, crews have been working around the clock since mid-March to get the facility opened by early may, which would be a full 15 months ahead of the original completion date.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all nonessential businesses throughout the Keystone State to close on March 19. This included construction companies, although work on the Pavilion has since continued.

Contractor IMC Construction, located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, is working on the healthcare facility in conjunction with architect Perkins + Will, which has its home base in Chicago. The project will include office space as well as areas devoted specifically to childcare. According to IMC data, Phase 1 entails 10 floors and 250,000 square feet of space, with Phase 2 providing an additional 290,000 square feet.

In a statement provided to HCO News, Robert Cottone, president and CEO at IMC Construction, said that the 540,000-square-foot Pavilion project is especially needed at a time when Philadelphia, and the rest of the country, faces such an unprecedented pandemic as the coronavirus outbreak.

“We take great responsibility and pride in expediting the completion of a healthcare facility that will contribute to the fight against Covid-19,” Cottone said. “However, this project will not be successful unless everyone involved follows established IMC work protocols to remain safe and healthy.”

According to ENR, when completed, the Pavilion will offer 120 hospital beds at a site that is directly adjacent to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Said Cottone: “Our partnership with University of Pennsylvania Health Systems has allowed us to create a stringent monitoring and exposure prevention plan that will help us achieve our goals.”

Over 12,000 cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in Philadelphia, according to the city, resulting in nearly 500 deaths. Pennsylvania’s Department of Health reports that, statewide, there have been over 42,000 diagnoses resulting in 1,600 deaths.

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PHILADELPHIA – Schneider Electric has announced their involvement with the PennFIRST team to design and build a new state-of-the-art pavilion featuring smart building technology for the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine).

Penn Medicine’s new Pavilion aims to serve the evolving needs of patient comfort and satisfaction, and ensure clinicians can deliver the latest treatments and patient care techniques, while Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Healthcare will help Penn Medicine to reduce costs, optimize energy use, increase staff efficiency and much more for new levels of hospital efficiency.

The Pavilion will offer 500 private patient rooms and 47 operating rooms in a 1.5-million-square-foot, 17-story facility across from the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and adjacent to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

The key features of the Pavilion include an adaptable room concept through which patient rooms are equipped to maintain flexibility between an intensive care unit set-up and a standard room as patients recover, or as the patient population and caregiving needs change in the coming years.

Each spacious room will include a private bath and a comfortable area for family members and caregivers to stay nearby.

The new design also boasts a seamless flow of operations – from the emergency department through hybrid operating rooms used for both surgeries and high-tech interventional procedures through recovery and discharge – enhanced by technology and the latest research on how to facilitate and improve care team collaboration.

Telemedicine functionality will allow remote monitoring and consultations, as well as technology to link patients to their friends and families at all times.

The eco-friendly construction, design and operations plan works to strengthen Penn’s commitment to the environment, through pursuit of LEED certification, and innovations like the re-use of water, 100 percent outside air, and park-like, outdoor green space for patients, families and staff.

Warren Rosebraugh, Schneider Electric healthcare solution architect, stated that EcoStruxure for Healthcare will include multiple aspects enabling improvements to patient care.

For instance, Schneider Electric’s Clinical Environment Optimization solution helps save energy by automatically adjusting room conditions based on occupancy information and allows patients to ensure that they are comfortable by setting their room temperature through the patient room control mobile app, as well as adjusting the light, ventilation and blinds in their room.

This level of comfort can impact the patients’ state of mind and ability to sleep comfortably, therefore supporting their recovery.

Another example is when an operating room is to be used for an operation, the room settings will automatically go into occupied mode and the electrical and medical gas systems are checked, ventilations are checked, and environmental conditions are verified to make sure the room is safe.

Rosebraugh also highlighted the Lean IPD approach used to deliver the new Pavilion.

“The biggest challenge, as well as the most rewarding aspect of the project, was working with a large number of stakeholders to construct the pavilion using a Lean Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach,” said Rosebraugh. “This is one of the largest projects on the East Coast to design and build through this approach. In a traditional design and construction approach, each firm works on their respective project role and scope separately and linearly. In contrast, in IPD, the team works side by side from the beginning of the design process. With incentive through a shared profit model, the resulting collaboration saves time and money through innovation and solves challenges in real time.”

Construction of the Pavilion began in September 2016 and will advance through early 2021, with occupancy projected later in 2021.

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LANCASTER, Penn. – Penn Medicine’s Lancaster General Health invested in a $28 million “Energy Center of the Future” for the Lancaster General Hospital (LGH) in 2017 – a state-of-the-art natural gas-powered, tri-generation energy center to improve system reliability and increase energy efficiencies. The upgrades will make 2018 its most energy efficient calendar year yet. With the help of a local solar energy equipment supplier, Lancaster General hopes to have reliable energy flowing through its hospital.

The new energy center was launched in spring 2017 and is located in a two-story addition built on top of LGH’s previous power plant. The intentions of the new energy center are multiple, with threefold goals of protecting LGH’s patients, increasing system reliability and lowering overall operational costs of the facility. The 6.6-megawatt power plant will save about $2 million a year for LGH while producing only about half of the emissions that stemmed from making PPL’s power, according to a recent article from Lancaster Online.

The combined heat and power plant (CHP) comprised of a 3.5-megawatt combustion turbine and heat recovery boiler is found at the heart of the energy center. The CHP is generally referred to as a “cogeneration plant” that provides electricity and heating. The addition of a steam-driven turbine chiller to the CHP also gives the energy center cooling capabilities, which gives LGH a trigeneration system.

While modern electricity reliability is at an all-time high, LGH’s tolerance for failure was “literally zero” before the installation of the new energy center, according to Troy Hafer, project manager for the new energy center from the Lancaster-based Benchmark Construction in an LGH web update on the project. While the possibility of power failures exists in all facilities in the U.S. at any given moment, the impact of this sort of occurrence during a surgical operation or other critical patient care scenarios could be more severe. With this in mind, the need for a more reliable backup system became a priority for LGH.

Thanks to the new energy center, responsibility for powering the hospital now goes to a new pair of two-megawatt backup generators, fueled by an enormous 50,000-gallon tank of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. In conjunction with two existing 2.1 megawatt generators, power would be restored to the hospital in the case of a power failure, and the hospital could be powered for up to four full days with these backup systems in place.

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PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new hospital on May 3. The new “Pavilion” will be located on Penn Medicine’s West Philadelphia campus — located at the former site of Penn Tower — where it will house inpatient care for the Abramson Cancer Center, heart and vascular medicine and surgery, neurology and neurosurgery and a new emergency department. Completion of the new pavilion is expected in 2021.

The new, 16-story, 1.5 million-square foot facility has a budget of $1.5 billion. The design and construction of the project is a collaborative effort between multiple firms. PennFIRST, an integrated project delivery team in Philadelphia is completing the planning and design process for the new hospital with global health care design firm HDR, as well as the international architectural firm Foster + Partners. BR+A is the engineering designer, with construction management experts L.F. Driscoll in Bala Cynwyd and Balfour Beatty Construction in Dallas, also on the project. Additionally, Penn Medicine’s clinical and facilities experts are part of this collaborative team, as well as the input of patients and related family advocates.

The design team had the minimization of patient stress on the forefront of building design for the new facility, with a goal of maximizing patient care and treatment, according to Troy Parks, senior communications specialist at HDR. As such, the hospital is designed to divide into smaller “neighborhoods” to provide a greater sense of community, and create a warmer feeling overall for the hospital. Plentiful daylight and landscape views will be present at this new facility, with the intention of optimizing the health and wellbeing of its occupants, according to Parks.

The new Pavilion will have 500 new private patient rooms and 47 operating and interventional rooms. These patient rooms were designed with “long-term flexibility” so that they can adapt and change over time with “minimal impact to the building fabric,” according to Parks. The rooms are designed in such a way that they can transform from intensive care related needs to a standard room as patients recover over time. Additionally, all private patient rooms have a uniform design to maximize patient care, and include a private bath and a comfortable area for family members and visitors. Telemedicine technologies will be installed into each of the rooms to maximize patient and staff communication, as well as to make “multi-nodal” physician consultations possible.

The new hospital design includes a number of environmentally sustainable features, with LEED certification being pursued for construction of the new facility. Some of these sustainable features include the reuse of water, optimized access to daylight, 100 percent outside air, outdoor green space available building occupants and visitors, and overall high performance building envelope and mechanical systems. Additionally, the surrounding landscape was designed to create pedestrianized routes and landscaped gardens and plazas to enhance not only the patient experience, but also to enhance that of the surrounding community.

The new Pavilion is being designed with a network of public bridges and walkways that will not only make movement around the campus pleasant and easy, but will link the new facility to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the adjacent Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. This network of walkways also easily leads building occupants to the local train station.

“As the nation’s oldest teaching hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is rooted in a history of firsts going back nearly 150 years,” said Ralph W. Muller, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System in a recent statement. “Now, with the Pavilion, we’re poised for the next 100 years of advances in patient care,” said Muller.

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