The $32.4 million project is broken down in to two parts: $30 million will build on three unfinished floors in the Turner Tower, where the Firefighters Regional Burn Center is located, and $2.4 million will expand the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center.

The two large-scale projects include renovations to the Critical Care Assessment area in the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, and the development and renovation of unused space in Turner Tower, including expansion of the burn center. The expansion of the burn center will benefit those who have, or will in the future, experience injuries as a result of being scalded in some way. In situations where this occurs due to another’s negligence, the victim may want to consider a burn injury lawsuit to get justice for what has happened to them.

The design of the Critical Care Assessment area is outdated and includes limited assessment space, according to a statement on the medical center’s website. Square footage will be added in the trauma center, including modernizations and increased assessment space. Renovation work is projected to be complete in December 2012.

Turner Tower was constructed in 1992 and has three floors that have never been built out. As one of the newest buildings on campus, it is better suited to accommodate modern and more patient-centered care facilities.

The Turner Tower project includes relocating services from other areas of the hospital, increasing capacity and improving patient and guest experiences. The $30 million capital project will build out three vacant floors in the tower, install required infrastructure upgrades, and renovate other areas in the building.

The project includes:
• Relocation, expansion and modernization of the inpatient rehabilitation unit
• Creation of a new outpatient ambulatory surgery unit
• Opening a 24 private room unit for adult acute care patients
• Expansion of the dedicated burn inpatient surgery suite to accommodate a second burn operating room
• Relocation of the critical care waiting room

Reginald W. Coopwood, M.D., president and CEO, of the hospital hopes to have the project’s state approvals finished by December. The entire project is slated for completion in December 2013.

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The hospital will include a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); advanced medical and radiation oncology and open-heart surgery departments. Other services will include OB/GYN, cardiovascular, bariatrics, orthopedics, a cancer center, women’s health, outpatient services, and minimally invasive robotic procedures. The construction costs came in at $150 million, while the project cost totaled $265 million.

The building is designed around a multi-story atrium that creates an entry to the hospital and orients views to the Norristown Farm Park across the road. Views of the park helped set the tone in terms of interior design for the hospital and brought inspiration from nature and sunlight, according to the New York City office of Perkins+Will, architects for the project.

“Natural materials like wood and stone in neutral colors were used to allow the focal point to be the changing scene outside the building,” said Laura Morris, senior interior designer at Perkins+Will.

“Every effort was made throughout the planning of the building to provide access to daylight for staff and visitors. Patient rooms feature expansive windows that take advantage of the views, and are designed to promote patient comfort,” said Carolyn BaRoss, design principal at Perkins+Will.

The 363,000-square-foot medical center will have an attached medical office building that will take up to 75,000 square feet. The office building, known as the Medical Arts Building, will have a freestanding ambulatory surgical center with four operating rooms, radiation and medical oncology programs, the antenatal testing unit, and space for private physicians.

In addition, some services will go into one of three off-campus sites. The Women’s Diagnostic Unit will be housed right across the street from the hospital, and the Sleep Center and Wound Care Center will be located about five miles down the road. A professional office space located on the EMCM campus will host hospital-based services to continue to service the community that remains around the old campus.

Design began in 2007, but construction for the hospital didn’t begin until July 2010 due to the dip in the economy in 2008, which made financing more complicated. Construction of the office building followed a year later, with a start date of July 2011.

“The projects were deliberately timed to end at the same time,” said Rick Montalbano, vice president and project executive for Einstein Healthcare Network. “If the projects had started at the same time, the Medical Arts Building would have sat empty for a year while construction continued on the hospital.”

The Medical Arts Building is 100 percent occupied, with 11 tenants in the two-story building.

Funding for the project came from equity, with bonds from FHA Mortgage Insurance rounding out the balance.

Currently the hospital has enough points to achieve LEED Silver certification, something that the Einstein Healthcare Network had aimed to achieve.

“I think there is a tremendous amount of excitement regarding the new facility. There is going to be a state-of-the-art medical center in the community that didn’t exist before,” said Beth Duffy, chief operating officer for Einstein Medical Center Montgomery.

A community day is being planned for September 22, a week before the official opening. Tours through the new facility will occur, with educational forums and children activities happening, and a concert and fireworks display rounding out the evening.

“We are very excited about the hospital opening in the fall,” said Robert Goodwin, design principal at Perkins + Will. “It will send a strong statement about advanced health care in a highly-efficient, comfortable and sustainable new facility that will be a welcomed new resource for the community.”

To make the transition easier for the patients and staff of the new facility, electronic medical records will be implemented using records from EMCM going back a year.

Einstein Healthcare Network found the need for the new facility when they realized residents of Central Montgomery County were going outside of the county for their health care needs, according to Duffy.

“Our data showed about 60 percent of residents leave Montgomery County, primarily going into the city, and so we believed we had an opportunity,” said Duffy.

Montgomery Hospital Medical Center (MHMC), a single-based entity, partnered with Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in order to build a new medical center, go into the market with an existing patient base and medical staff, and open a new hospital to serve the needs of the county.

The patients currently at MHMC will move to EMCM in late September, at which time MHMC will close. Currently, EMCM is only using one-third of its 87 acres of space, allowing for ample growth in the future.

“When we acquired the site, we knew that the site was much larger than what we needed for today’s project; so the site has been master-planned with its roadway systems and utilities to grow,” said Montalbano.

“It [EMCM] was really built from the patient and family perspective,” added Montalbano. “While there is much here that talks about the efficiency of how hospitals work, there is also much here that says that we understand the role of the patient and the family and the healing process.”

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The seven-story facility includes a larger emergency department, surgery suites, private patient rooms, a new cardiovascular center, expanded patient care and an intensive care unit.

The GAMC West Tower Phase III adds 35,000 square feet to itself on top of two new surgical telemetry units and two intensive care units.

The Los Angeles office of architecture firm Devenney Group, worked to create a building that met GAMC’s fire-rating requirements by using a fire-resistant glazing. The firm also sought to find a way to provide visual privacy controls on interior windows and doors that would be easy to use, adjustable and hygienic. Abbott Construction served as the general contractor for the project.

TGP’s Pilkington Pyrostop glazing material was used in conjunction with Unicel Architectural’s Vision Control integrated louvers to ensure both safety and privacy for patients.

A total of 40 Pilkington Pyrostop/Vision Control units were installed in interior locations on both the third and fourth floor.

By mixing fire-resistant glazing with hermetically sealed, adjustable louvers, both safety and privacy were addressed.

Technical Glass Products is a source for fire-rated glass and framing systems, along with specialty architectural glass products. The company offers AIA registered continuing education, project consultation, product specifications, CAD drawings, BIM 3D models and rapid-response quoting.

Unicel Architectural is a company committed to the process of sustainable building using aluminum and glass solutions. These include specialty glazing, skylights, louvers and custom structures.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center was founded in 1905 and is now a 450-bed full-service facility as opposed to the 75-bed sanitarium it was when first created. Today, GAMC is part of Adventist Health, a system that includes 19 hospitals and other health care facilities.

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“HOK brings a strong understanding of the legacy of care on this campus,” said Robert Cannon, BJC group president responsible for design and construction in a statement. “As a St. Louis-based company, HOK also appreciates the significance to the community of a project of this magnitude.”

The long-term vision is to transform the medical center campus through renovation and new construction. The first phase will concentrate on the north campus and includes an expansion of St. Louis Children’s Hospital with enlarged diagnostics and treatment spaces and conversion of semi-private rooms to private rooms.

“Demand for pediatric services continues to grow and we are genuinely committed to doing what’s right for kids,” said Lee Fetter, president, St. Louis Children’s Hospital in a statement. “This renewal promises a significant impact on the way care is delivered for our patients and families for years to come.”

The campus renewal will extend over the next 10 years. In addition to the Phase I transition of the north side of the campus, the south end of the campus will undergo renovation and construction with a focus on increased critical care capabilities and additional private inpatient rooms, along with development of programs in medical and surgical services.

Both phases of the project will incorporate significant improvements to parking, traffic flow and wayfinding for patients.

"This is a unique opportunity to create environments that will transform the delivery of care while also enhancing the bond between BJC and the community it serves,” said Bill Hellmuth, AIA, HOK’s president and design director on the project in a statement. To further enhance this community connection, BJC is committed to ensuring the design of the project is sensitive to the medical center’s heritage and that the project creates opportunities for minority and women owned businesses.

The needs of a teaching and research campus will also be addressed in the renewal project. Additional space for university faculty practice clinics, community physician practices, diagnostic spaces and expanded clinical care at the Siteman Cancer Center and other surgical programs are included in the renovations.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital are members of BJC HealthCare, one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States. Both hospitals are affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine.

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The new on-campus facility will house the hospital’s occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physical therapy programs and registration. These services are currently located separately.

“Despite the fact they’re in three or four different locations, it’s been very successful,” said Jim Matney, hospital president and CEO. The hospital is seeing an increase in demand for the services and requires an expanded placement.

In addition to the services already in place, the new rehab center will offer aquatic therapy.

“This type of therapy is appropriate for orthopedic conditions such as total knee replacement and back pain, as well as neurological conditions like stroke and head injuries,” said Matney.

According to Nicole Gilbert, director of marketing, the new aquatic therapy will provide patients with a more one-on-one approach where patients can direct their own course of treatment. For example, if a patient wants to focus on and learn specifically about knee pain, the facility will be able to cater to their needs.

Patients will be able to exercise and increase flexibility since the water allows for weightlessness and subsequently less pressure on the injured joints. This could prove to be vital for the patient’s recovery. Even if some of their pain still persists, trying something like CBD oil, or a similar course of treatment recommended by the professionals working at the center can all help to make a difference when it comes to making a full recovery. Having access to aquatic therapy will take them one step closer to this. A treadmill at the bottom of the pool, with a camera under the water, will allow a physical therapist to watch the treatment and make adjustments as needed.

“Lots of times you have people having their hip operated on or their knee operated on, and they can’t put weight on it,” said Matney. “You put them in the water and they’re weightless.”

The facility is financed by Southwest Georgia Bank and the Waldo DeLoache Charitable Trust (WDLCT), pledged $250,000. The WDLCT pledge will be distributed over the next five years and will aid the construction of the new facility and a future expansion for the hospital.

The project will be constructed using entirely local contractors and subcontractors. According to Matney, hospitals across the country are trying to stay local in terms of hire and help from Colquitt Regional officials was needed because local contractors needed instruction on how to bid on health care projects.

The 13,000-square-foot center will be five times the size of the hospital’s current 2,800-square-foot facility.

The spaces currently occupied by the therapy programs will house a new surgical unit, emergency room and ICU.

The NoliWhite Group is on board as the project manager for the center, and will work from conceptual design to construction and turnover.

The rehab center is an experimental predecessor to a large hospital renovation that is expected to cost $30 million and begin either in late fall or early winter, depending on paperwork.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield established the contracts in January 2009 as a result of concerns with the fee-for-service reimbursement model, which, according to the health care network, unintentionally rewards doctors and hospitals for the quantity and complexity of services provided rather than the quality and outcomes of care.

“Fee-for-service payments create incentives to provide more and more services, even when there may be better, lower-cost ways to treat a condition,” said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund. “It’s not realistic to tell hospitals and doctors that they must improve quality if by doing so they are likely to lose money.”

In an effort to address the concerns while balancing financial goals, the Blue Cross Blue Shield team came up with the Alternative Quality Contract, a global payment model that combines a fixed per-patient payment with substantial performance incentive payments.

In a statement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts described the goal of the setup as “to enable the delivery system to give the patient the best result from the most appropriate treatment, by the right kind of provider, at the right, and in the most appropriate setting.”

Under the five-year budget-based agreement, the Boston Medical Center will manage the growth in health care spending to a level that falls below BCBSMA’s network average expense trend.

The center works with a network of community health centers in Boston, including seven that will participate in the AQC contract: Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Greater Roslindale Medical & Dental Center, South Boston Community Health Center, South End Community Health Center and Upham’s Corner Health Center.

The AQC contract will also include Boston Medical Center’s community-based primary care physicians who are part of the Boston University Affiliated Physicians group, which has practices in Boston’s Back Bay and South End, Foxboro, Norwood and Taunton.

The agreement brings into the AQC nearly 800 additional physicians who care for about 13,000 of BCBSMA’s in-state HMO members. In other words, about two-thirds of doctors in BCBSMA’s in-state HMO network provide care to about 76 percent of BCBSMA members.

An independent study conducted by the Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Health Affairs, found the contract appears to be achieving its twin goals of improving care and slowing costs particularly in managing chronic illness, preventive care screenings and treating depression.

The studies found that in the first year of AQC, medical spending was nearly 2 percent lower among participating physicians and hospitals compared with those working in traditional fee-for-service contracts.

For physicians and hospitals with no previous experience in a global payment model, spending was 6 percent lower than that of providers in traditional fee-for-service contracts, researchers found.

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