By nature of the crowd and organizer, the BOMA Medical Office Building conference a few weeks ago was bullish on outside capital investment and real estate management in healthcare. What I picked up was an undercurrent of hesitance by healthcare systems to ‘go outside’ for financing and help managing their real estate, unless it was a last resort. On… [Read more…]
May 14, 2012
Two weeks ago, I attended the annual BOMA Medical Office Building conference, and still I am trying to digest what I heard—not all of which was of a consistent message. The conference was a mix of points-of-view on real estate, finance, healthcare and design topics. Here is a baker’s dozen of things I heard that best… [Read more…]
April 30, 2012
In Fast Company’s “Generation Flux” article, much ground was covered as to how the capitalist landscape is unsettled, or more poignantly stated, constantly changing. Change equals risk in many businessmen’s heads, and continual change…well, deep down no one wants that; it is just too hard to plan for. Yet, this is where we find ourselves. Up until now, the focus in… [Read more…]
April 25, 2012
What does it mean to do business with the owner? To me, dealing with an owner means you get “the most” from any interaction: customer service, honest communication, reliability, value, comprehensive attempt to resolve a concern or find a solution. Ownership in healthcare has been one big revolving door: physicians selling their practices, hospitals merging with systems, public companies going… [Read more…]
April 18, 2012
At the PDC Summit last month, a panelist noted Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove’s perspective that expected mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to be integral to sustaining healthcare revenue. This is also supported by economic theory. Big-time growth in this way is likewise espoused by for-profit healthcare. I believe mergers and acquisitions in healthcare can greatly consolidate what is currently… [Read more…]
April 13, 2012
Last week I attended a networking event and met a handful of people who were between jobs, not uncommon these days. What I find interesting is how differently people portray their situation. Some feel sheepish and embarrassed to be out of work, while others are excited at the potential of opportunity in front of them.… [Read more…]
April 10, 2012
The stances outlined in my previous ‘hospital-as-hotel vs. hospital-as-healer’ post are not so stark or easily simplified. All hospitals seek to heal; however, some are paying more attention to patient satisfaction, and investing in improving those scores, more than others. Time will tell if this strategy is fruitful in the long term. As part of… [Read more…]
March 16, 2012
AirTran happens to fly where I need to go lately, so I have flown with them quite a bit. On a recent trip, I was watching the ground crew prep us for take-off and saw a very appropriate use of Lean design in action. I looked on the ground and saw several areas striped off on… [Read more…]
January 23, 2012
Architects have complained over the past thirty years that their significance in society—influence, status, importance—has diminished. This is largely true. I believe it has happened because of one concern: architects continue to push away risk. As architects began off-loading risk from their standard contracts decades ago and limiting services, (for instance, not accepting responsiblities and… [Read more…]
December 28, 2011
When I started my career as an architect, it never occurred to me I would need to know much about access to capital. Indeed, times have changed. On the contrary, architects need to know quite a bit about how hospitals function fiscally. Historically, hospitals’ three main sources of construction project funding have been municipal (tax-free) bonds, private borrowing… [Read more…]
May 22, 2012
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