News
What's Up For Docs?
January 25, 2012
| Bisnow’s San Francisco Healthcare Summit drew a robust crowd of 250 to the City Club last week. (We couldn't chew gum because we only brought enough for 212. Plus four out of five disapproving dentists might have been there.) Our preeminent panel of healthcare design and construction pros discussed their projects and industry trends, including what’s got them monitoring their blood pressure. |
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| DPR Construction project executive George Hurley listens to a question about describing his most interesting projects. He began working on the Sutter Castro Valley project in August 2007. Since then, it’s gone through the Alameda County entitlement process and a phased-plan review with OSHPAD, and is very close to completion. Staffing and stocking are scheduled in June. No matter what, he observes, it always seems that the last 5% of a project takes 50% or 75% of your energy and effort. |
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| UCSF Medical Center’s Cindy Lima, executive director for the Mission Bay Hospitals project, notes it's in the midst of building a 289-bed, $1.5B medical center for children, women, and cancer patients. (It’ll have San Fran’s first operating helipad on a hospital.) UCSF’s at the $400M mark of the $600M capital campaign, and will be finished with construction in late '14, opening in ’15. |
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| SmithGroupJJR SVP/national healthcare practice leader Jim Hannon is principal in charge of Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center project, which includes the 555-bed Cathedral Hill replacement hospitals and a 500k SF MOB across the street, with an associate architect involved. He characterizes CPMC as a “systems project”: a recreation of the Sutter Health system here in San Fran. It’s been the poster child for the integrated form of agreement and a very collaborative process in association with 46 trade partners. |
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| Kaiser Permanente VP for NorCal capital projects Hollis Harris talked about her “triplets”: three hospitals now under construction in NorCal, with steel up in the air in Redwood City, San Leandro, and Oakland. Combined, they added up to nearly $2B worth of projects with a total of 700 beds. All are seismic replacements due for move-in by the Dec. 31, 2014 deadline. It’s been exciting to see three projects go up, she says--working together to learn best practices from each other and figuring out how to create a better system. |
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| Degenkolb senior principal Jay Love is working on the CPMC project with SmithGroup, the Kaiser Oakland projects, and the Alta Bates Merrit Tower. In addition to the integrated form of agreement and integrated project delivery, all three projects, starting three or four years ago, were put into BIM (building information modeling). “We have been developing that expertise through the process, and it’s showing up in construction—things are going together much more easily.” |
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| Having had his thunder stolen by fellow panelists involved in Sutter Health projects, VP of facilities planning & development Bob Mitsch notes the healthcare provider has about $4.5B worth of active construction going on in NorCal. The company has worked hard to develop its own internal capabilities around integrated project delivery and IFOA. The company’s trying to get the right types of buildings developed in the right markets to support the future, but it’s also looking at how it can become more affordable as an organization. |
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| Pacific Medical Building SVP of development Jim Rohan points to a consolidation of services. PMB’s working in a nationwide partnership with JLL for consulting and various RE services, and “working more than ever on a system-wide basis with hospitals.” Buildings are being constructed and designed at the same time that an adjacent hospital is being built. In addition, demand is changing from “simple one-off”40k or 50k multitenant buildings to larger, more complex projects which are heavily influenced by the provision of outpatient services that used to be provided on an in-patient basis. “When you walk into a lot of our buildings, if it weren’t for the fact there aren’t beds, you may think you’re walking into a hospital.” |
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| Not all may agree that healthcare reform is what the doctor ordered, but you can bet our three panelists who plan and build new facilities for major health providers are looking at it carefully. Hollis says one of the best things to come out of healthcare reform is a focus on quality. According to Cindy, much of the focus is to move patient care to the lowest acceptable level of facility—from hospitals to outpatient settings, and from outpatient to home care and even self-care via remote monitoring. Bob says Sutter Health is anticipating significantly less revenue to work with and has undertaken cost-reduction initiatives on the construction side. |
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| Our moderator, Miller Starr & Regalia’s JoAnne Dunec. Panelists also see trends toward green buildings and wellness centers. Although the green movement came late to healthcare, Jim Hannon says, “it’s very much cemented in the healthcare industry now,” with LEED cert goals in most of SmithGroup’s projects. A wellness-oriented facility might offer services such as massage, acupuncture, yoga, running tracks, and even spas. Glen Ivy too far away? Just book a room at your local hospital. |
