Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.
Issue link: https://mcdmag.epubxp.com/i/853600
MCDM AG.COM | J U LY/AUGUST 2017 | Medical Construction & Design 27 and businesses. Often, these partnerships are strong ways for health systems to expand the potential of new service off erings and products. Penn Medicine's Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies is a new health research facility that integrates Penn Medicine's intellectual resources with Novartis' leadership in the pharmaceutical industry to jointly fi nd more eff ective treatments for cancer. Located on Penn Medicine's campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, amidst both clinical and laboratory facilities, the CACT expands on Penn's ground- breaking research using Chimeric Antigen Receptor technology, which enables a patient's own immune cells to be reprogrammed outside of their body and re-infused to "hunt" for and potentially destroy tumors. This technol- ogy doubled process effi ciency and increased communication and collaboration between researchers. At the outset of the Penn + Novartis partner- ship, it took an entire month to create a patient's hunter cells. Now, thanks to the integration of resources and strategic facil- ity design, that time has been reduced by 50 percent to just two weeks. In many cases, combining forces with other experts can bring signifi cant advantages to health providers. The CACT is a paragon for how facility design can be leveraged to build on these partnerships and allow them to realize their full potential. In this case, the CACT should help bring this breakthrough treatment to more cancer patients sooner and save more lives. Welcome ideas from new places A major part of successful in- tegration is being open to new ideas. This doesn't just mean from internal groups, but also new markets entirely. Several of the challenges facing health- care have been impacting retail, education and hospitality for years. Providers should be open to learning from their solutions and integrating ideas into excit- ing new healthcare spaces. The University of Minnesota Health is ahead of the curve in this movement with its Clinics & Surgery Center, a health facil- ity off ering no formal check-in or waiting rooms and informed by retail design, corporate workplace strategies and air- travel check-in processes. The patient experience is more akin to shopping at an Apple store as patients are greeted by con- cierges with mobile tablets that can help them check in, review records and fi nd exam rooms. Similarly, the building has no assigned private rooms for staff , instead empowering their people to work in collaborative zones throughout the build- ing and a three-story staff -only café atrium to better care for patients. One of the stated goals of the institution is to move more of their visits to the virtual plat- form and away from a physical environment. The sizing of the facility itself was reduced in anticipation of volume growth occurring in this new virtual platform. A bold departure from tra- ditional health facility design, the Clinics & Surgery Center is driving impressive results: > The facility allows M Health to see twice as many patients with signifi cantly less real es- tate than their previous facility > M Health has seen new patient growth up 14 percent since opening the Clinics & Surgery Center > The new approach to facility design and resulting effi ciencies generated $60-70 million in capital savings > 10 clinics are exceeding the 90th percentile for "would you recommend" in Press Ganey surveys of like organizations In healthcare corporate boardrooms across the country, leaders are continuing to focus on integration as a means to a brighter future. As this article illustrates, integration has multiple meanings and it's important for each provider to strategically identify their own unique solution to achieve success. There is no singular way to achieve integrated suc- cess, but there can be numer- ous positive outcomes when executed properly. Michael Pukszta, AIA, is the director of CannonDesign's global health practice. 40+ The Wexford Health & Wellness Pavilion's demonstration kitchen features seating for about 40-45 participants. — ahn.org 26 Northwestern Medicine's Lavin Family Pavilion is 26 stories and home to an outpatient surgery center and the Center for Comprehensive Orthopaedic and Spine Care. — nm.org From top: The Allegheny Health Network's Wexford Health & Wellness Pavilion houses the full spectrum of outpatient services, ultimately streamlining their continuity of care across specialties. > Through Northwestern Medicine's Shop and Dine program, the institution has formalized relationships with retail providers to better deliver immediate access to a vision care center, retail pharmacy and healthy dining restaurants.