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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In the report, Practice Greenhealth describes how industry leaders are reducing their facilities’ environmental footprints, achieving financial savings and changing their organizational culture as they address environmental issues in areas such as energy, waste management, safer chemicals, water reduction, healthy food, green buildings and climate impact, according to a statement by the organization.

The report also demonstrates how leading hospitals are developing organizational leadership and effective purchasing strategies for environmentally preferred products to affect even greater change. These leading hospitals are embedding sustainability into their operations through the decisions, actions and results described in the report, according to a statement.

The Benchmark Report presents environmental accomplishments and financial savings to help guide and encourage hospitals to improve sustainability efforts in their facilities. The report outlines how — through sustainable practices — participating hospitals trimmed costs by approximately $76 million, cut both general and medical waste, increased the use of green cleaning products, cut the use of potentially harmful chemicals and saved on energy costs.

In addition to these metrics, the report includes sustainability trends and emerging areas of focus, according to the organization. For example, it examines which plastics are most likely to be recycled in the operating room and which reusable items are most likely to be purchased.

“Our Sustainability Benchmark Report inspires our members by demonstrating what’s possible in health care sustainability,” said Jeffrey Brown, executive director of Practice Greenhealth, in a statement. “The concepts, approaches and data help them identify their opportunities for improvement and establish their sustainability priorities and goals for the coming years.

“By showing what these 220 hospitals have accomplished, the report provides an excellent indication of the environmental and financial benefits that can be realized across the full sector of over 5,500 hospitals across the country,” Brown continued.

Practice Greenhealth supports the environmental, human health and financial achievements through sustainability programs offered to 1,300 member hospitals. The organization’s primary goals are to prevent and reduce waste in the health care sector; achieve carbon neutrality in health care; reduce energy and water usage; build, renovate and purchase responsibly; foster respectful work environments; engage the community on environmental sustainability in design, construction and operations; lead the way in responsible buildings and operations; increase recycling programs; and phase out hazardous substances and toxic chemicals.

In May, Practice Greenhealth honored 25 hospitals with its Environmental Excellence Award, the organization’s highest honor. Winners included Bon Secours Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y.; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York; and Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin, Texas.

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When fully operational, this sprawling 500,000-square-foot facility will provide state-of-the-art medical care and services to roughly 70,000 active duty military members, veterans and their families. The facility features emergency, primary, intensive and specialty care units, as well as 96 outpatient procedure rooms and more than 200 exam rooms. It also includes eight labor and delivery rooms as well as 16 post-partum suites to welcome an estimated 160 babies per month. The hospital already anticipates an outpatient load of nearly 2,000 patients per day and will offer 2,500 parking spaces to accommodate visitors.

At full capacity the Naval Hospital is expected to employ 1,100 medical professionals and administrators though a number of offices will remain at the original Lake O’Neill hospital facility built in 1974. According to Capt. Mark Kobelja, commanding officer of the Naval Hospital Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the new hospital complex is a great improvement over the current small, outdated facility. Kobelja called the project a “catch-up” that will allow the base to offer modern medicine in a structure that also meets seismic requirements. “Designed as a like-for-like replacement of existing capabilities, the new facility will greatly enhance those capabilities with the newest facility and equipment technologies," Kobelja said in a statement.

Building designers also took advantage of the new construction to integrate various green and energy-saving elements into the overall design. The design and construction teams built a central utilities plant and energy system that will outperform baseline standards by 30 percent. It also features green roofs, healing gardens, an open atrium allowing patients and families space to enjoy fresh air, and both mountain and ocean views. The team also incorporated 20 percent recycled materials, cut water usage by half and restored surrounding green space. As a result, the building is expected to earn LEED Gold certification. Kobelja said the new facility will not only provide enhanced healing and energy conservation, but will also optimize the work environment for staff.

HKS Architects Inc. of Los Angeles and HDR Architecture of San Diego both provided structural and design input for the project. The architectural firms collaborated with Young+Co. Inc., also of San Diego, on interior design. Clark Construction Group of Costa Mesa, Calif., and McCarthy Building Co. Inc. of San Diego were awarded a joint contract for all construction. Thanks to numerous safety initiatives and high naval standards, the construction team reported zero lost-time incidents, a feat rarely achieved in projects of this scale. Team members also worked closely during each phase of design and construction, allowing them to efficiently monitor and manage costs, quality control and efficiency.

McCarthy/Clark hosted a symbolic key ceremony on Oct. 21, 2013. An official ribbon cutting ceremony has been planned for January 31, 2014, well ahead of the original June 2014 estimate.

The post Camp Pendleton Prepares to Welcome Patients appeared first on HCO News.

When fully operational, this sprawling 500,000-square-foot facility will provide state-of-the-art medical care and services to roughly 70,000 active duty military members, veterans and their families. The facility features emergency, primary, intensive and specialty care units, as well as 96 outpatient procedure rooms and more than 200 exam rooms. It also includes eight labor and delivery rooms as well as 16 post-partum suites to welcome an estimated 160 babies per month. The hospital already anticipates an outpatient load of nearly 2,000 patients per day and will offer 2,500 parking spaces to accommodate visitors.

At full capacity the Naval Hospital is expected to employ 1,100 medical professionals and administrators though a number of offices will remain at the original Lake O’Neill hospital facility built in 1974. According to Capt. Mark Kobelja, commanding officer of the Naval Hospital Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the new hospital complex is a great improvement over the current small, outdated facility. Kobelja called the project a “catch-up” that will allow the base to offer modern medicine in a structure that also meets seismic requirements. “Designed as a like-for-like replacement of existing capabilities, the new facility will greatly enhance those capabilities with the newest facility and equipment technologies," Kobelja said in a statement.

Building designers also took advantage of the new construction to integrate various green and energy-saving elements into the overall design. The design and construction teams built a central utilities plant and energy system that will outperform baseline standards by 30 percent. It also features green roofs, healing gardens, an open atrium allowing patients and families space to enjoy fresh air, and both mountain and ocean views. The team also incorporated 20 percent recycled materials, cut water usage by half and restored surrounding green space. As a result, the building is expected to earn LEED Gold certification. Kobelja said the new facility will not only provide enhanced healing and energy conservation, but will also optimize the work environment for staff.

HKS Architects Inc. of Los Angeles and HDR Architecture of San Diego both provided structural and design input for the project. The architectural firms collaborated with Young+Co. Inc., also of San Diego, on interior design. Clark Construction Group of Costa Mesa, Calif., and McCarthy Building Co. Inc. of San Diego were awarded a joint contract for all construction. Thanks to numerous safety initiatives and high naval standards, the construction team reported zero lost-time incidents, a feat rarely achieved in projects of this scale. Team members also worked closely during each phase of design and construction, allowing them to efficiently monitor and manage costs, quality control and efficiency.

McCarthy/Clark hosted a symbolic key ceremony on Oct. 21, 2013. An official ribbon cutting ceremony has been planned for January 31, 2014, well ahead of the original June 2014 estimate.

The post Camp Pendleton Prepares to Welcome Patients appeared first on HCO News.

Recently, DPR Construction, based in Sacramento, Calif., conducted a research project where the company interviewed 42 leaders in the health care construction industry, ranging from various medical system CEOs to design and construction directors, developers and hospital consultants. The idea was to predict the future; although one of the main take-home points from the study was that there is no consensus in the industry on what exactly that future holds. The construction company gathered the responses from the series of interviews and proposed a series of 10 conclusions.

1. Hospitals will be smaller and more integrated
DPR argued that hospitals would increase their emphasis on a holistic approach to practicing medicine, with a renewed commitment to prevention and wellness. Combining this finding with a prediction that procedures will become safer and less invasive, the company proposed that hospitals would shrink because hospitalizations would become less prevalent. If patients take better care of themselves and procedures become less risky, hospitals can cut down on their expense-laden bed counts.

2. Health systems are the future
The construction firm predicts that health systems will consolidate into larger entities and “community hospitals may cease to exist.” The report also indicated that the distinctions between for-profit and not-for-profit operations would shrink over time, possibly leading not-for-profits to lose their tax-exempt status.

3. Outpatient services drive growth
The report predicts that traditional medical office building formats will be phased out and replaced by new models like medical homes and accountable care organizations. DPR says the fact that the current model will change is the clearest part of the equation. What will replace it is the million-dollar question.

4. Profitability will drive specialty areas to prominence
DPR indicated that cancer, heart and neuroscience would continue to gain relevance, especially as baby boomers begin to interact with the system more regularly and the long-predicted “wave of patients” begins to arrive.

5. IT and EMRs demand attention
The report predicted that the incredible rate of technological advancement and the even more rapid increase in demand by patients for high-tech health care will take resources away from facilities in terms of funding and change the way hospitals are designed.

6. It’s the economy, but you knew that
DPR put it lightly when they explained, “we are moving into a cash-constrained period.” The report indicated the current boom in health care construction will not last forever and will eventually fall back to earth, shrinking the gap between the rest of the design and build industries.

7. The new car smell isn’t worth the price tag
The construction company explained the economy would lead more health systems to seek out existing building with “the right bones,” as renovating a building and updating it to look like what patients expect “is much cheaper” than building new structures.

8. Green will become the standard
DPR contended that LEED certification might not be the standard yet, but health care leaders expected to have some green selling points to show off, along with energy efficiency savings. “Clients want access to data and results, specifically operational savings. They are motivated by optimization.”

9. Collaborative process is an expectation
The report explained that collaborative was becoming a buzz-word used to describe successful projects, while delivery methodologies were still split based on regions and health systems. “Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is more used and accepted in the West than in the East and is being enthusiastically greeted from the design community.”

10. Differences in age groups are stark
The construction company explained there was a very large dividing point around the age of 45, where customer expectations diverge drastically. Additionally, the baby boomer wave will create a dual effect, where there are too many patients and too few doctors.

The post DPR Attempts to Predict Future of Health Care appeared first on HCO News.

The contest required firms to design a small hospital and surrounding campus with net-zero energy consumption, suitable for a semi-rural area in Southern California, but adaptable to other areas. Net-zero energy consumption refers to the fact that a building provides all of its own energy from sustainable and/or renewable sources. As winners, Aditazz, M+NLB and Perkins+Will are eligible to contract with Kaiser for a small hospital project, tentatively planned for Southern California.

The Aditazz proposal features a three-story hospital with a partial fourth floor and 188 total beds. The design calls for a hospital featuring a “floating roof” over-arching canopy, covered by a large number of solar panels, which will contribute to energy savings and block the buildings below from various forms of exposure, lowering the costs and building requirements for them significantly.

The Aditazz entry explained that this extra layer of protection from the effects of the sun will do some of the work usually accomplished by the facilities themselves, meaning, “the building envelope can be comprised of straight-forward, cost-effective materials and assemblies.”

The proposal calls for a large courtyard, also under this protective canopy, allowing space for community events like farmers’ markets and providing outdoor seating for food services. The solar canopy in this area will be used as the framework for hanging banners, artwork and tapestries to enliven the space.

The MNLB collaboration with Perkins+Will calls for a three-story hospital with a maximum of 132 beds. The concept involves a Wellness Pavilion on the ground level, which doubles as the front door to the facility and will offer educational services. The area will also include retail space, as well as private dining facilities to increase the feel of melding public space with medical services to create a warm welcoming environment.

Patient bathrooms are set along headwalls with continuous rails to reduce falls, while the patient’s rooms feature noise-reduction strategies to improve the quality of sleep. Smart bed technology allows the staff to monitor when patients leave their beds. The design features an energy use index approximately 75 percent lower than the regional average. This effect was achieved with solar energy, a high-performance envelope, ground-source heat pumps in place of boilers and a geothermal well-field instead of cooling towers.

The Gresham, Smith and Partners design includes automated guided vehicles (AVGs), essentially robots that transport materials throughout the facility. AVGs can be programmed to operate during off-peak hours, saving the funds required to pay four full-time employees. The facility achieves net-zero energy use by covering its parking lots with shade devices, featuring 300,000 square feet of solar panels, providing enough energy to power 75 percent of the hospital’s annual energy use. Either one large wind turbine or two smaller ones would be located in the northeast corner of the site, providing the rest of the power.

These are very forward-looking designs and the information provided here is merely the tip of the iceberg. Detailed proposals for all three designs can be found at http://design.kpnfs.com/winners.html

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