New 21st-Century Hospital Opens in Owensboro, Kentucky

OWENSBORO, Ky. — The all-new, reimagined Owensboro Health Regional Hospital recently opened its doors to patients. Built on a 162-acre tract on the city’s East side, the 780,000-square-foot facility is positioned to transform healthcare delivery for the 11-county area it serves through a flexible design that accommodates streamlined processes, advanced technology and future growth.

Every floor offers patients and families extraordinary views of the picturesque campus that includes ponds, gardens and trees. Indicative of the rethinking inherent in the new design, tools for patient care are out of sight but within easy reach in each of the 400-square-foot rooms, which are one-third larger than the patient rooms in the previous hospital. Rather than a central nurses’ station, a work area is tucked outside each patient room, allowing nurses to stay closer to patients. All medicines and supplies are kept in the room or are less than 20 steps from the bedside, allowing caregivers to quickly attend to patient needs.

“Each floor is designed for premium efficiency,” said Jeff Barber, president and CEO. “Patient services are closely connected to reduce transport times in life-threatening situations, such as stroke or heart attack care, when minutes can make the difference in patient outcomes, or even life and death.”

Adjoining a nine-story structure with patient rooms and ancillary departments is a three-floor rectangular building that houses the emergency department, maternity services, surgery and all supporting areas. Patients move from one service to the next with ease and in quick fashion. Pharmacy, the laboratory, heart catheterization and sterile processing are aligned on the perimeter of the second floor, wrapping around surgery and post anesthesia care units.

The project team included HGA Architects and Engineers as architect, KLMK Group, Inc. as project manager and Turner Construction as construction manager.

Community Focus
From the outset, Owensboro Health’s leadership knew they wanted to include patients in the design process. HGA’s in-house process engineers and medical planners worked with Owensboro to conduct a series of interactive workshops with community members to gather patient stories and identify “Keystone Experiences” — experiences starting from the parking lot and continuing to the main lobby through the waiting rooms, patient rooms and finally check-out — that contribute to the patient experience, sense of comfort and quality of care.

Concurrent with the patient experience workshops, Owensboro Health and the design team applied Lean design principles that enabled the hospital to achieve an operationally efficient plan. The team mapped current work processes using photo journaling, future-state operating models, site visit research, technology assessment and current-state process mapping. From this data, the team identified “gaps” in the workflows to propose future operational models that promote on-going healthcare improvements.

“Through these interactive workshops with patients, staff and stakeholders, we were able to gather concrete data that helped Owensboro achieve their vision for a Lean business model,” said Kurt Spiering, AIA, ACHA, vice president and principal with HGA. “The new hospital is one of the leading medical centers in Kentucky offering state-of-the-art technology and advanced delivery processes that enhance the patient experience.”

Integrated Project Delivery
In order to achieve the goals established early-on and ensure delivery on the vision, Owensboro Health chose to pursue an innovative approach in constructing its new medical campus. Utilizing Integrated Project Delivery, a method where all team members were hired prior to the start of the project and signed an agreement, the project team agreed that the total cost of construction would not exceed $385 million. By taking this approach, Owensboro Health was able to add $5 million to the scope of the project without increasing its overall budget. The adjoining medical office building cost $39 million.

“In 2008 and 2009, financial markets were taking a nose dive. Embarking on a project of this size in that environment was a leap of faith, in and of itself. Combine that with a relatively new form of delivery in IPD and you are embarking on unchartered territory. But this owner was visionary and in turn this team really delivered. Our project team’s focus was to ensure that we achieved our goal of fulfilling our commitment to the owner. The team’s collaborative effort made that a reality. Taking a project through the IPD process solidified our belief that this is an effective method of delivery, given the right players and the right owner. Owensboro Health leadership saw the advantages that the approach offered and now the community will benefit as well,” stated Bill McMahon, president and chief operating officer for KLMK Group.

By conducting pre-design Lean studies, intensive workflow analyses, various MEP system studies and progressive procurement strategies, the project was able to maximize outcomes from an examination of the total impact of decisions. Through these processes the project not only achieved very competitive first cost pricing, but is designed and constructed to reduce long term operational expense, improve the workplace environment for staff, engage the community, change the healthcare delivery model and most importantly optimize the care environment and outcome potential for every patient.

To maximize efficiencies during construction, the project team implemented prefabricated building systems, innovative scheduling processes including top-down construction and pull-plan scheduling, full-system coordination through Building Information Modeling and a “Paper Light” project which utilized on-line documentation platforms for information management.

“From day one, Owensboro Health was committed to creating a 21st-century facility that would revolutionize the way healthcare was provided to the community and this commitment carried throughout the project. As a team we were able to achieve extraordinary results through close collaboration and innovation. Turner is proud to have been a team member in building a facility that will positively impact the community for many years to come,” said John Gromos, vice president  and general manager of Turner Construction.