The renovation will add a new five-floor, 260,00-square-foot medical pavilion that will be updated with the latest hospital technology. The renovation will also add an additional 80,000 square feet to the existing hospital.

“Top-tier health care organizations need to continually invest and innovate in order to stay top-tier,” said Daniel Hopp, Lakeland Health board of directors chairman, in a statement. “Through our long-range capital facility plan, we have carefully evaluated, planned and executed to ensure that we remain a health system equipped to serve the next generation of our friends and neighbors.”

The pavilion will consist of new medical and surgical suites, a short-stay unit, imaging centers, an intensive care unit and education and community rooms. The main entrance of the pavilion will provide visitors with comfortable seating areas, flat screen TVs as well as areas designed to educate visitors on healthy living.

It will also include an endoscopy unit, an intensive care unit, a nuclear medicine unit, a pulmonology unit, a post-surgical unit, a critical care unit and a new wound center.

“We’re creating a new observation unit adjacent to the emergency department to care for those folks that aren’t sick enough to be in-patients but are a little too sick to send home,” said Dr. Loren B. Hamel, president and CEO of Lakeland Health, in a statement.

Additional updates to the facility will include private corridors to transport patients inside and outside of the hospital. A new main entrance will also be built which allows for easier vehicle transport of patients as well an updated look for visitors.

“Every decision made in regards to this project has been with our patients, team members and community in mind and how we can provide them with the best overall experience possible,” said Hamel in a statement. “Our hope is that through modernizations and the latest technology we will be able to save more lives, restore health to more patients, and provide the quality health care our community needs while remaining close to home.”

SmithGroup, a construction company based in Chicago will lead hospital design.

In the past five years, Lakeland Health has received a number of updates and renovations including an addition of a $7.3 million, 42,000-square-foot Lakeland Medical Suite in Niles, Mich., which houses several specialty practices and visiting specialists.

The hospital has also received a new emergency department at Lakeland Community Hospital in Niles. The project included a $7.4 million, 16,000-square-foot unit that replaced the existing emergency department.

A 57,000-square-foot Lakeland Continuing Care Center in St. Joseph was also added to replace the 40-year-old existing facility at an estimated cost of $10.5 million.

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The new facility will include specialty services of the Hunterdon Healthcare System, including gastroenterology, endocrinology, urology, breast surgery, cardiology, physical and occupational therapy, imaging, diagnostic services and procedural services. The new facility will occupy 55,000 square feet (at 1121 Route 22 West, formerly Bank of America and the corporate headquarters of the former First National Bank of Central Jersey). The building is celebrating its grand opening on June 30.

Through the alliance with Hunterdon Healthcare and Atlantic Health System, Atlantic Health System will lease space in the building and provide surgical specialists along with Hunterdon Medical Center surgeons, according to an article in mycentraljersey.com.

With the partnership, each health system is able to retain its independence, while creating significant clinical and economic efficiencies to lower the cost of health care while providing the highest quality services, according to mycentraljersey.com.

“Many of our patients call Somerset County their home and we want to provide the highest quality care and the most convenient care to our patients,” said Robert P. Wise, president and CEO of Hunterdon Healthcare, in a statement to mycentraljersey.com.

While the new facility will alleviate worry from area residents about their access to health care needs — Wise and Hunterdon Healthcare also wanted to be able to provide urgent facilities for local counties. An Urgent Care Center will be opened on Route 206 later this year in order to provide the most comprehensive range of care to patients, according to mycentraljersey.com.

Hunterdon Healthcare Urgent Care will offer onsite x-ray, EKG’s, blood work/lab testing, immunizations, audiometric testing, spirometry and vision screening, according to the article. The Urgent Care Center will also provide occupational health medical services to employers throughout the area and offer Department of Transportation physicals, pre-employment physicals, HAZMAT physicals, OSHA respirator physicals, initial work injury, fitness for duty and return to duty physicals, drug and alcohol testing and medical review officer services.
 

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Toward this end, room designs traditionally packed with several patients per room are being replaced or supplemented with single-occupancy rooms. This provides more patient privacy in accord with HIPAA regulations, along with improved sleep, environmental control, and lower infection risk.

The benefits of such a patient-centered hospital environment are increasingly being extended to in-room audio, where advanced design allows more patient-control, better audio quality, and a streamlined architecture.

In the past, each hospital room often contained several patients and a speaker for each such as “pillow speakers,” as well as TV speakers, intercom speakers, nurse call speakers, and an emergency broadcast speaker.

The background noise from all these speakers could be a problem at times. The audio quality could be sub-par as well, for instance, with pillow speakers, which tend to require frequent replacement, due to rough patient handling. The clarity and reliability of pillow speakers can also deteriorate with such use until they may require replacement once or twice a year at a cost of about $200 each time.

As a consequence, hospitals are moving away from a multitude of speakers in traditional patient rooms to fewer, better, more durable speakers in private rooms.

Now technology has advanced to the point where a single self-amplified “all-in-one” speaker set like that from OWI, a manufacturer of advanced audio equipment, can enhance patient control of audio while replacing several separate speakers and improving sound quality. Such all-in-one speakers further streamline the process by combining the speakers, amplifier, volume control, and input plate.

“Overhead, all-in-one speakers with wireless Bluetooth connectivity like OWI’s allow patients to more conveniently control song selection and volume from their iPhones or MP3 devices without plugging into the wall or having to reach for wall or pillow speaker controls,” says Jud Miles, a senior designer at RTKL, a global architectural design consulting firm that offers patient-oriented health care design, among other specialties.

Bluetooth compatibility for the all-in-one speakers allows patients to play music from their own smartphones from the overhead speaker so they are no longer limited to earphones, a plug-in cord, or listening only to what the hospital offers. Patients listening to music together is a great step forward, more hospitals should be implementing this practice, hospitals can look on any audio/sound equipment website to help them see what would be best for their hospital.

“By connecting wirelessly to the overhead speaker, patients can listen to their own song selections from bed with audio quality much better than typical pillow speakers,” says Miles. “Since patients do not touch the speaker, the system will last much longer than pillow speakers.”

OWI offers ceiling and wall-mounted speakers for hospitals with several additional advantages compared to traditional audio equipment. For instance, the all-in-one, overhead speakers can do the work of several speakers such as pillow speakers, TV speakers, and paging/intercom speakers, while improving audio quality.

Since the two source, self-amplified ceiling speakers with Bluetooth come with a built-in amplifier, this also optimizes high-fidelity reproduction and response without an external amplifier that could otherwise take up space in the patient’s room.

With up to 40 watts of class D digital amplifier power delivered directly to the speaker, OWI’s AMP-ER2TR6 self-amplified speakers are powerful enough to drive additional non-amplified speakers, yet compact enough to mount discretely above a two-foot by two-foot ceiling tile with Bluetooth.

“You don’t have to worry about finding a place to put an amplifier in the patient room because the speakers have an integrated amplifier that fits neatly above a ceiling panel,” said Miles, who has specified the overhead, self-amplified speakers in private patient rooms in new hospital construction at several locations across the country.

“From an infrastructure and installation standpoint, it’s a nicer solution than trying to find a location and power for the amp somewhere in the patient room,” said Miles. “Instead of having all these separate line items on an equipment list: the speaker, amplifier, volume control, and input plate, it’s all one line item on the equipment list.”

For those without Bluetooth capability, a volume control knob and audio input jack are built on a single wall plate, said Miles.

To improve clinical communication, such all-in-one speakers can also provide a unique priority override that automatically mutes music or TV in the patient room when a nurse call or emergency notification is announced. If there is a power outage in the hospital or local area, the speaker priority override messages can still come through, when connected to a paging system that is connected to a failsafe UPS device.

“From a hospital design, purchasing, installation, maintenance, and end user viewpoint, an all-in-one speaker is easier and less costly to use than traditional hardware,” said Miles.

Del Williams is a technical writer based in Torrance, Calif. He writes about health, business, technology, and educational issues, and has an M.A. in English from C.S.U. Dominguez Hills.

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Comfort Underfoot Reduces Strain

As shown on StandingShoes.net, proper footwear can help reduce some of the harmful effects of prolonged standing and walking but softer, resilient rubber floor coverings also offer an important weapon in the battle against muscle fatigue and aching backs, legs and feet. Its content (high-quality industrial and natural rubber) and structure make rubber flooring especially resilient, easing the stress of walking and standing as it ensures comfort underfoot and allows staff to concentrate on the work at hand rather than the pain in their feet.

This same resiliency makes it easier for staff to move carts, wheelchairs and other pieces of equipment across rooms and down hallways. At the same time, it offers important slip resistant properties to staff and patients alike. This is especially critical in orthopedic, geriatric and rehabilitative areas of healthcare facilities. In addition, the resiliency of rubber flooring can provide a softer landing than other floor coverings and minimize the impact of a fall or misstep.

Simple Maintenance Saves Time and Money

Rubber floorings dense, non-porous surface resists chemicals and disinfectants, such as betadine. Most spills can be removed easily without residual staining. When it is time to clean the floor, the regimen can be as simple as using a mop and little more than water. Harsh cleaning chemicals are not required. Nor are waxes, speciality coatings, and strippers. You could visit Vacuumshop to find reviews of the best steam mops, which you could use to clean it if there has been a big spill or if it has muddy footprints all over it. This is important because steam mops differ greatly in how good they are. Clearly, if you are going to use a steam mop, you will want to know the best steam mop so that it actually cleans the floor and isn’t just pushing the dirt around. This light cleaning eliminates the need for labor-intensive stripping and re-coating, which saves money on fewer cleaning products and reduced labor hours. Meanwhile, the floors naturally bacteriostatic and fungistatic properties continue to inhibit the growth of bacteria and help meet the stringent hygienic requirements of healthcare facilities.

The floors simple cleaning regimen also means that large areas of a facility do not need to be removed from service while wax is applied and allowed to dry. This is especially important in busy health care facilities that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it translates to fewer, less intrusive interruptions for patients and the medical personnel treating them.

No Fumes Means Better Indoor Air Quality
Additionally, the absence of fumes associated with harsh cleaning products, waxes and sealants contribute to improved indoor air quality (IAQ), as does the absence of PVCs, plasticizers or halogens in the flooring. This, in turn, helps create an environment that safeguards the health of staff and promotes healing, especially for patients suffering from respiratory conditions and allergies.

The floor also offers healthcare facilities a durable solution, even as heavy equipment and furnishings are moved regularly and foot traffic is often heavy. In fact, rubber flooring can have an extended life cycleas long as 30 yearswhich reduces the need for frequent removal and disposal and delivers long-term savings.

In addition, rubber flooring provides electrostatic dissipative properties that protect a hospitals investment in sensitive instruments and electronic equipment, eliminating malfunctions or damage caused by electrostatic charges.

Quiet Encourages Concentration and Healing

All of this equipment, as well as the hustle and bustle of a busy health care facility, can create a noisy environment one with the potential to distract staff members and prevent patients from getting the rest they need. The noise abatement properties of rubber flooring can address issues related to noise. In fact, rubber floor coverings have been shown to attenuate 70 percent of unwanted noise and absorb as much as 17 decibels of sound. The result is a staff better able to concentrate on the work before them and patients better able to sleep.

Design Promotes Healing and Pleasant Working Environment

The appearance of floor coverings can also impact patients and staff. For example, a soft, warm color palette in patient rooms and recovery areas can help reassure and relax the patient. On the other hand, areas geared toward children often rely on bright colors and accents to stimulate and excite young patients. Rubber floor coverings are available in a variety of colors, textures and patterns, making it easy to create an inviting and calming atmosphere for patients and staff while incorporating colorful accents and inlays that can enhance a design, provide important wayfinding or serve as teaching tools. Whats more, the floors versatility in performance and design promotes transition from one area of a facility to another and supports a comprehensive and coordinated design that minimizes a building owners investment in multiple flooring products with different maintenance requirements, performance features and longevity claims.

Tasha Hughes is the marketing specialist for Nora Systems Inc.

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“Huge, huge cost increases were driving a greater percentage of people into the uninsured category every year,” Beebe told the Pew Center’s Stateline news service.

The governor launched his health care payment improvement initiative at the beginning of October, although the private insurance component won’t begin until January. The program essentially offers doctors financial incentives to improve their efficiency in providing care. The main difference between this plan and similar initiatives in other states is that Arkansas is applying the same billing rules and standards of care to Medicaid and private insurance companies. Medicare is also considering joining the effort. Medicaid has become known for paying its providers the lowest rates, creating a difference between it and private insurance. There is also a large variance between what doctors charge for treating patients with the same conditions from one hospital to another. The combination of these effects creates much financial uncertainty for hospitals, headaches for patients, and high costs for the state.

The new program takes dramatic steps to address several scenarios that tend to systemically lead to increased costs, with each type of insurance focusing on different areas. Medicaid and private insurers will now designate a doctor as the “principal accountable provider” for each time they treat someone who falls into one of these categories. Doctors will receive bonuses for keeping costs under specific thresholds or penalties when they exceed them by too much.

The situations that fall under the new law for Medicaid will include when a patient comes into the doctor’s office with a common cold, a form of attention deficit disorder, or for pregnancy, childbirth or perinatal care. The state’s two largest insurers, Blue Cross Blue Shield and QualChoice of Arkansas, chose perinatal care and hip/knee replacements, as those were the most costly conditions that affect large numbers of their customers. Blue Cross also singled out congestive heart failure for the program.

All doctors in the state received reports from Medicaid and insurance companies in June, informing them how their costs compared to counterparts in other states in the various categories. Doctors have also been informed about the range their costs must fall into over the next year to avoid penalty or gain rewards. This year, doctors will be given reports on the costs of all the services they order for patients, which will give them a much bigger picture of the financial impact. According to Pew, medical services provided directly by doctors account for only seven percent of all medical costs. Most of the costs come from the services that doctors order, which is also the area where they often have the least knowledge about cost.

There has been a large amount of controversy around the bill. The residents of Arkansas, and the larger medical community inside and outside the state will surely be watching the program closely to see if it has a place in the future of health care funding.

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The move allowed improvements to be made to the UHS hospital and downtown campuses in San Antonio, including two new facilities: a six-story outpatient facility and a 12-story, 420-bed patient tower.

Since the groundbreaking of the downtown campus in December 2010, UHS has saved more than 12.5 percent on construction materials and equipment.

“Our long-standing supply chain relationship with MedAssets solidified our decision to engage their team in our extensive $932 million expansion initiative,” said Mark Webb, senior vice president, Facilities Administration, University Health System. “Expanding our organizational capacity is critical to our future financial viability. Obtaining outside expertise in managing this significant capital investment has already demonstrated its value.”

Owned by Bexar County, UHS is a nationally recognized academic medical center and partners with UT Medicine San Antonio. UHS is the only health system in South Texas to earn Magnet status, recognition for providing quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. There are currently 360 Magnet hospitals and health systems worldwide, and UHS is the 24th in Texas. UHS is one of the largest employers in Bexar County with 5,000 employees, almost 700 resident physicians and a 2012 operating budget of $947.6 million. The hospital currently has 489 beds and is one of 15 Level 1 trauma centers in Texas. It features the region’s only locally-owned and operated, not-for-profit HMO.

MedAssets provides financial performance solutions to health care providers for health care supply chain management and healthcare revenue cycle management. The firm works to help healthcare providers find cash from existing operations and improve margins, with the potential to increase net patient revenue by 1 to 3 percent and decrease hospital supply chain expenses by 3 to 10 percent.

“As a leading provider of total cost management solutions, MedAssets is deeply involved in multiple ways to help acute care organizations evolve business models and improve efficiencies,” said John Bardis, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the company. “We are gratified so many health care organizations are entrusting us to help gain greater fiscal control over construction projects that are fundamental to long-term strategic goals and to remain competitive as the nation’s health care system delivery structure changes dramatically.”

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The complaint, filed in 2009, alleged that alleging that the Medical Center had inadequate mechanisms in place to ensure good communication between hospital personnel and deaf patients.

“Trinity failed to provide deaf individuals with sign language interpreters that were needed to communicate effectively with health care providers,” a statement released by the Justice Department said. “The lawsuit also alleged that Trinity relied on a seven-year old girl to serve as a sign language interpreter for her deaf mother.”

As a result of the failure to provide effective communication, deaf patients could not understand medical instructions, were confused about medical procedures and were forced to wait long periods of time without being able to communicate with medical staff, according to the complaint.

As part of the settlement, the hospital is also required to provide training to staff on the requirements of the ADA, and adopt specific policies and procedures to ensure that auxiliary aids and services are promptly provided to patients or companions who are deaf or hard of hearing. Medical centres should have the appropriate devices to allow them to effectively communicate with people with hearing troubles. Perhaps the medical centre might want to look at some of these hearing amplifiers reviews to make sure the patients and staff can converse clearly in future. This sort of equipment should be provided for patients.

With new 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards in effect, now is a good time to focus on the standards to avoid the many negative consequences of incompliance, according to officials from Disability Access Consultants, an Oroville, Calif.-based consulting and software firm focused on ADA compliance.

The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 54 million people in the U.S. are disabled – representing about 19 percent of the population.

Of the 54 million, five percent are aged five to 17, 10 percent are aged 18 to 64, and 38 percent are adults 65 and older, according to the 2008 American Community Survey.

The Americans With Disabilities Act, signed into law on July 26, 1990, includes any impairments for physical, cognitive, visual and hearing, along with medical conditions like diabetes.

As a way to prevent lawsuits and audits from the Department of Justice, which can result in fines and lawsuits, the Act requires facilities to meet compliance goals of making programs, good and services accessible to all.

The Act includes five titles, each applying to different kinds of facilities. Title 2 of the Act pertains to hospitals — particularly those that receive federal funding.

Though there are a number of different systems outlining ADA measures — including state building codes, which may vary from federal standards — a provision in the act requires a facility to comply with the most stringent requirements.

Complying with ADA entails reviewing policies and procedures to minimize risk, a public input process, developing a transition plan and meeting federally requirements for funding.

“It’s not a building code, it’s a matter of civil rights,” said Barbara Thorpe, president of Disability Access Consultants.

Beyond interior spaces, the ADA requirements also apply to employee and visitor parking, barriers like shrubs and trees, trash cans and grates no more than half an inch.

Thorpe listed a number of reasons to comply with the requirements: ligitation costs, meeting the legal requirement for federal funding, and in general, “it’s the right thing to do.”

Additional costs include damage awards and public relations issues.

Despite its strict requirements, however, the ADA requirements can be applied to facilities in their entirety, not to every room.

Thorpe also emphasized not relying on architects to meet the requirements — instead, a facility should have an ADA coordinator with a mandated job description to ensure the facility is up to code.

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