CREJ

Page 16 — Health Care & Senior Housing Quarterly — April 2021 www.crej.com individual occupant phone booths. Even the patient’s room reflects this need, with several available seating arrangements. Finally, we mapped the user expe- rience of staff members, focusing on the nurses who provide patient care. Naturally, we explored ways to minimize unnecessary move- ment by nurses, who in their current facility walk an average of 3 miles in a single shift. These strategies included additional casework stor- age in patient rooms, the storage of key supplies at the nurse station, and centralized med prep, soiled utility and clean supply rooms. But we also explored how the space could help staff members manage stress. Hearing that nurses would seek refuge in the staff bathroom for a quiet moment between patient room visits, not having time to visit the breakroom, we designed staff bathrooms to provide a moment of respite, with calming finishes and soft seating. Following the completion of design, the benefits of our user experience mapping exercise were obvious. The exercise drove us to integrate planning and design ele- ments that we might otherwise not have considered. These elements, aimed at influencing the emotional journey of the building’s users, hopefully will have a measurable impact on the emotional journey of users as they navigate the challeng- es of death. s kvanderputten@moaarch.com Vander Putten Continued from Page 10 settings as well, thanks to smart- phones and online communication applications like Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams. In fact, telemedi- cine has dramatically outpaced busi- ness conferencing as the primary use of these platforms. The convenience and economy of this approach is likely to remain a significant part of the doctor-patient relationship when actual physical interaction isn’t essential. In turn, this will reduce the need for multiple examination rooms; permanent infrastructure like oxy- gen lines, electronics and wiring; and even waiting rooms, storage areas and other built spaces. n Medical office buildings and free- standing surgery facilities. Now that the immediate crisis has lessened and COVID-19 cases are declining, nonhospital-based medical practices and surgery centers mostly have returned to normal operating pro- cedures. They still routinely screen patients and others entering the spaces for fever and mandate hand- sanitizing. Those practices are likely to remain in place for the foresee- able future. That means waiting and intake areas probably will require modified space allocations and more sophisticated ventilation systems than prepandemic structures. In short, medical and senior facili- ties already are responding to chang- ing conditions. In the next few years, hospital, medical facility and senior housing projects will be fully adapted to the urgencies seen in the COVID-19 era. New safety and health accommo- dations will become as commonplace in future construction as sprinkler and fire alarm systems are today. s tysongraff@haselden.com Graff Continued from Page 12 Activate, a wellness studio that works together with doctors, in Janu- ary 2020, it has been averaging over 87% of referred patients joining the program. Kinney credits the jump to the highly collaborative nature of their relationships with referring physi- cians and the transparency in elec- tronic health records that allows the physician to be a more active partner in designing and augmenting the pro- gram to maximize patient outcomes. n Supporting more consistent revenue. The other issue with many wellness centers is the inconsistency in rev- enue. When you integrate your well- ness center more thoughtfully into your continuum of care, you increase opportunities to work with insurers and create a more reliable source of income. Not only are private insur- ance reimbursements more consis- tent, there often are untapped oppor- tunities for Medicare reimbursement. When Medicare launched a value- based medicine approach some years ago (vs. fee for service), it built in valu- able wellness incentives that have been vastly underutilized because physicians haven’t been empowered to effect major behavior change in the time they have with patients. With a medical fitness model that is well integrated with physician care, when the physician refers a patient, there is the potential to create a care loop, where the patient is coming back for regular checkups with the physician, allowing the physician to tap into significant wellness incen- tives while ensuring their patients get more complete, effective care. n Supporting better outcomes. Ulti- mately, the goal of any facility (hos- pital or wellness) is driving positive outcomes, which brings us to the most compelling reason of all for a medically integrated wellness center. When you create a stronger connec- tion between your facilities, between your surgeons and a patient’s physical therapists, between your patients and their entire care team, you can better align everyone for better patient out- comes. It’s a win-win. s taber.sweet@mortenson.com Sweet Continued from Page 8 We are the guys you cheated off of in math. www.HarrisKocherSmith.com 303.623.6300 There was a reason for that. And still is. We are the best at what we do. D E N V E R • D A L L A S / F O R T WO R T H ENGINEERS • LAND SURVEYORS Want to purchase minerals and other oil/gas interests. Send details to: P.O. Box 13557 Denver, CO 80201