By Andis Robeznieks October 26, 2009 So-called “clash detection” will not help healthcare executives pick the right tie for their jacket, but it may save them time and money on their organization's next construction project. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks September 28, 2009 While going though the interview process for the president and CEO positions at Denver's St. Anthony Central Hospital two years ago, Peter Makowski says he kept visiting the institution's Web site to look at the drawings of the new $750 million replacement hospital that Centura Health was proposing to build. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond August 24, 2009 Hospitals considering new construction are faced with a dilemma: The price to build might be just about right, but the timing could be all wrong. Earlier this year, the use of substandard building materials in construction-boom states such as Florida and Louisiana made national headlines, after tainted drywall damaged homes and, in comes cases, led to adverse health effects on homeowners. Healthcare facilities haven't suffered such problems, but they do face a different set of material challenges. ... FULL STORY
By Jennifer Lubell July 27, 2009 Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss., is feeling the impact of a state psychiatric hospital's decision to downsize its bed count. Mississippi State Hospital, located about 90 miles away in Whitfield, “has been discharging more patients from the state system. This has led to more traffic in emergency departments throughout the state,” says Debbie Sanford, vice president of behavioral health at 512-bed Forrest General. ... FULL STORY
By Vince Galloro May 25, 2009 The last time healthcare construction spending stagnated, providers were struggling with the Medicare cuts from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. That led to three years of flat construction spending, according to one industry analyst. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks May 04, 2009 Some big names have been recruited into the Hospital Energy Alliance, a U.S. Energy Department-led coalition seeking to promote energy efficiency and renewable technologies in hospitals, but it could be one of the group’s smallest organizations that pushes the effort forward. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans May 04, 2009 Bank distress continues to hinder access for healthcare borrowers and threatens costly volatility for those already in the market, despite demand from short-term investors for municipal bonds. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks April 27, 2009 When hospitals talk, state legislators listen. Or so it appears as reform or repeal bills have been introduced this year in the legislatures of more than half of the nation’s 36 states with certificate-of-need laws. But statehouse observers aren’t expecting sweeping overhauls in the state programs. Despite calls for less regulation and more market freedom when it comes to healthcare facilities planning, hospital associations have been able to persuade legislators to leave their state’s competition-limiting CON laws alone or enact only limited reforms. ... FULL STORY
By Jean DerGurahian March 23, 2009 Covenant Health System is building a free-standing emergency department near one of its hospitals in Lubbock, Texas, as that state continues to debate legislation that would require more regulation of such facilities.The $5.8 million facility under construction by project developer Hammes Co., Dallas, is expected to 16 beds for emergency treatment. Covenant sees a large flow of patients from that area, which is about eight miles away from the hospital, and a satellite ED there would ease the bottleneck in the main facility, says Juan Fitz, a physician who is assistant director of the... ... FULL STORY
