ACE To You: HVAC Considerations in the Age of COVID

The COVID-19’s viral transmission raised questions about HVAC ventilation in hospitals and health systems treating COVID-19 patients. In October’s ACE To You, TLC Engineering Solutions’ Executive Principal and Senior Wizard, Kim Shinn, and AdventHealth’s Architect and Senior Project Manager, Mohammed Alai, will discussed the latest information on viral transmission as well as offered guidance on implementing facility adaptations for housing and treating COVID-19 patients.

Learning Objectives:

1. Distinguish the differences in viral from other microbial infection transmission, given the unique nature of the novel coronavirus, to recognize the opportunities for specific infection mitigation in a healthcare setting.
2. Assess and adapt existing HVAC systems (including air handlers, filters, ductwork, and controls), medical gases, and essential power to transform them for temporary accommodation of COVID-19 patient housing and care.
3. Prepare measures for adapting alternative care sites, such as lodging and dormitories, to house and care for non- COVID-19 acute care patients to free up in-hospital resources
4. Identify and qualify non-traditional air-cleaning technologies for use in healthcare applications to mitigate infection transmission.

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ACE To You: The New Master Plan
Post-Pandemic Strategic Capital Considerations

The COVID-19 pandemic forced health systems to tighten their budgets, limit non-essential spending, and reconsider planned capital projects. With predictions suggesting a slow, tedious financial recovery ahead for many health systems, strategic post-COVID considerations will be necessary for all stakeholders in capital projects. From free-standing construction versus expansions, how and when to use a developer, and buying versus leasing, this ‘ACE To You’ webinar will dissect a number of prevalent planning, design, and construction questions. Further, this panel of stakeholders from various aspects of capital projects will offer insights on new questions and considerations, share lessons learned from recent projects, and discuss trends in capital projects post-COVID.  

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ACE To You: Behavioral Health Program
Ensuring Success in the Wake of a Pandemic

With 43 million Americans experiencing mental illness each year, and a global pandemic forcing the quarantine of all residents, the need for additional behavioral health resources is essential. In this session, we will uncover how hospitals and health systems can ensure their new behavioral health unit will contribute to the financial success of the organization, even during a pandemic. We’ll explore how hospitals and health systems should determine the scope, size and characteristics of a new or expanded behavioral health unit and how the design and operations impact the financial viability of the unit. From unit size to patient mix to location setting, there’s a formula that leads to the success or failure of a behavioral health program. By offering mental health services, organizations can extend continuity of care that benefits both the hospital and community. We’ll share unconventional methods along with specific examples to make sure any facility, from a small inpatient unit to an extensive standalone hospital, can achieve their goals.

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ACE To You: Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Capital Projects and Project Teams

Recent disruptions have drastically changed the way healthcare providers conduct business in nearly all areas of their operation. Specifically, as we enter a new era of healthcare capital project planning, it is important to understand the changes to team composition, roles, and project planning expectations. This collaborative webinar will provide the owner, architecture firm, and engineering firm perspective on the future of capital projects and project teams. The webinar's interactive discussion will be centered around teaming and work methods, technology integration, expected prioritization of various project types, new facility design considerations, and on-site versus off-site considerations in the planning and design process. Panelists will also discuss their thoughts on temporary versus permanent changes to the healthcare capital project landscape as well as the importance of understanding geographic variation in the design process.

Key Takeaways: 

• Break down the latest complexities and shifting expectations that will impact future capital projects and project teams
• Explore strategies to optimize the planning, design, and construction process in a new era of capital project planning
• Review successes and lessons already learned from current projects
• Understand technology implementation considerations that will need to be made throughout the planning, design and construction process

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ACE To You: Cost Savings Through Informed Decisions About Your Medical Equipment

The changing healthcare landscape and increasingly tighter budgets will make it a challenge to purchase capital equipment in consideration of a hospital or health systems’ bottom line. However, making informed decisions on the ongoing usability and lifecycle of your assets can save money, delays, and headaches down the road. Through this edition of ACE To You, learn more about a data-centered approach to determine equipment reuse in construction projects, known as ERUL (Estimated Remaining Useful Life). This discipline lends itself to more effective equipment planning and provides clear metrics to validate opinions regarding redeployment by confirming the asset has sufficient remaining life to justify the relocation costs associated with reuse. 

Through this informative session, you will learn:

• The definition and factors that make up ERUL, including how it is applied to an asset.
• How to use ERUL as a guiding metric to support and validate reuse decisions, augmenting equipment vintage and customer feedback.
• Practical examples of how ERUL was used in recent capital projects.

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Repurpose, Reuse, or Renovate? Breathing New Life into Buildings
New technology and medical procedures are rapidly changing the way hospitals are designed and built today. The process to decide between repurposing, reusing or renovating buildings can be difficult and requires many hours of research to create the most efficient and effective outcome. In January’s ACE To You, Texas Children’s Hospital’s Vice President of Facilities Planning & Development, Real Estate Services, Jill Pearsall, and Cook Children’s Health Care System’s Vice President of Construction & Real Estate, Spencer Seals, discussed how to bridge the gap between older buildings and today’s building needs. They also discussed when to repurpose, reuse or renovate buildings and best practices for completing projects on older buildings.

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Practical Strategies for Neogotiating Service Maintenance Agreements
With the considerable time and management required to purchase capital equipment, service maintenance agreements receive notably less consideration. Yet it is important to negotiate and understand the long-term costs of maintaining capital equipment. In December’s ACE To You, practical strategies for negotiating service maintenance agreements will be discussed, including prioritizing and budgeting maintenance needs, considering long-term costs, and working with contractors to receive the best rates. 

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Rethinking the Way You Evaluate Technology 
New technology continues to reshape the healthcare landscape at a dizzying pace. To stay at the forefront of healthcare, facilities must integrate new technologies. Yet change can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. It is important to rethink the way you evaluate new technology. This month’s edition of ACE to You featured Jacob Johnson, Director of Technology & Strategy Development at Kaiser Permanente, and Samantha Jacques, Director of Clinical Engineering at Penn State Health. Jacob is responsible for the strategy, assessment, implementation and integration of annual Medical Technology Capital Plan at Kaiser Permanente. Samantha currently works on equipment planning, expansion efforts and capital planning for the Penn State Health System.

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Equipment Planning Strategies
Capital equipment expenditures are a large part of the budget and are closely scrutinized.  Diminishing equipment life cycles, increased regulations and tight budgets make it a challenge to purchase equipment that will improve patient care as well as the bottom line.  Making smart decisions in the planning process can save money and avoid headaches later on. This edition of ACE To You will feature Gloria Cascarino, Medical Equipment Planner for Medix, Lynne Ingle, Senior Director - Equipment Planning for MERC and Scott Vinson, President, Mitchell Planning. The panel will give examples of successful strategies to drive down costs, increase satisfaction and improve patient care. 

Click here to listen to the audio recording of October's ACE To You