Healthcare construction projects: Why use a professional project management firm?

A hospital recently received approval to begin the long anticipated renovation and expansion of their emergency department. Preliminary plans call for the emergency department to double in size in order to meet growing healthcare requirements and guidelines. The renovation has been long overdue and the board of trustees would like the project finished as soon as possible. Therefore selection of the design and construction team must begin forthright in order to meet the aggressive schedule. The hospital's facility management department has been given the responsibility of managing the emergency department project; however, at the moment it is not staffed adequately to meet the rigorous demands of the schedule or address the project's many complexities. Increasing the department with full-time personnel is a possibility; however the time and money it takes to advertise the position(s), recruit and hire, as well as the additional cost for employee health and financial benefits, are major drawbacks. The alternative: outsource to a professional project management firm. Hospital projects are tremendously complex, coordination and logistics will be the driving factors in establishing the overall budget, schedule, and ultimate success of the project. A project management firm will provide the expertise required for the duration of the project and serve as an extension of the client's own staff, providing professional guidance and expediting the process while minimizing the effort on a client's resources. The role of a project manager (PM) is to provide every technical, supervisory, managerial, and administrative service necessary to realize a hospital client's design, construction, and operational needs. As the project progresses, the project manager will conduct ongoing reviews, comparing the design with the established project objectives and budget. It is the project manager's responsibility to coordinate all members of the project team, reviewing drawings to ensure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and thoroughness. Contract negotiation, CON (Certificate of Needs) applications, DOH submissions, infection control-risk assessment, mock-up implementation, constructability review, infection control risk assessment & interim life safety management, and equipment procurement are all services provided by the PM. The project manager will facilitate regularly scheduled meetings, critical for ensuring that all issues are identified, discussed, and resolved in a timely manner. Cost reports are also provided in order to track committed and budgeted costs, and to forecast potential expenditures - a vital step in avoiding unpleasant surprises and giving the project team and the client adequate notice when cost-reduction measures are required to meet the overall budget objectives. Change orders, while inevitable, are perhaps the greatest threat to the project budget; a PM will conduct weekly change order meetings, attended by the design professionals and the contractors. A good PM will negotiate to reduce change order costs while finding design alternatives to minimize any impact on the budget. The responsibility taken on by the PM will give the hospital facility management department the time to concentrate on everyday operational needs. A PM's experience, leadership ability, expertise, and determination to deliver exceptional value invariably yield the client a significant return on their investment. Craig Senior, R.A., LEED AP, is an associate for VVA Project Managers & Consultants, New York, N.Y.