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Healthcare is one of the biggest markets for filtration, but getting the right people to pay enough attention to it is always a challenge. In this recorded conference presentation, Jacob Schneider from Meadows & Ohly shares his expertise on the lifecycle of healthcare facility projects. The presentation gives the filtration industry insights into how end users, project managers, and property managers are or are not thinking about filters. Mr. Schnieder describes the different phases of facility development and advises attendees on which parts of the process project teams would be most receptive to input on filtration solutions.

View the speaker’s slides here: https://amped.egnyte.com/dl/3kURC0GFFc

For detailed show notes, read below and use the timestamps to navigate the episode:

[1:20] The presentation begins with an introduction from Jacob Scheider. He is a civil engineer by education, but he has spent his career managing capital projects for healthcare organizations.

[2:50] Mr. Schnieder explains the large team structure of healthcare facility projects. These projects involve a project management side, a medical side made up of clinical staff and facility engineers, and a construction and implementation side.

[3:53] Mr. Schneider lists the lifecycle phases for large projects. These phases are project launch, the construction phase, contracting, activation, and ongoing operation.

[5:30] The project launch phase involves meeting with core administrators, determining the needs of the facilities, consulting experts, and developing the project budget.

[8:04] Mr. Schneider gives examples of project goals by showing the audience the goals for a project he worked on.

[9:16] The second phase of the project is the design phase. This phase involves the establishment of project implementation teams, or PIT teams. These teams tend to be the most influential out of any decision-maker in the project lifecycle.

[11:54] What drives decisions during the design phase? The main factor is meeting code requirements. Healthcare organizations must have an extreme amount of oversight and must meet rigorous standards.

[13:15] Facility standard books come from a variety of sources. These sources include internal groups, but they also tend to reach out to third-party subject matter experts to design their standards.

[15:20] In the contracting phase, the facility onboards major partners and returns to the budget through the budget alignment process.

[19:00] Mr. Schneider suggests that the cost-cutting nature of this phase means that everyone is looking for suggestions, and there is leeway to make sweeping changes to the design to better align with the budget.

[19:16] Mr. Schnieder introduces the construction phase. In this phase, teams build facilities, procure materials, and manage any changes that must be made.

[21:56] The change management process is different in this phase. Any changes at this phase must go through an extremely cumbersome consideration process.

[22:44] The final phase is activation and operation. This involves training staff members, starting up equipment, undergoing inspections, and maintaining the facility. Making changes to services like filtration at this point is difficult.

[26:01] Code requirements continue to drive decision-making at this phase, but operational impacts become the second most important factor. Keeping the facility operational is crucial to avoid losing doctors, patients, and revenue.

[28:10] Schnieder recaps the key phases of the facility project lifecycle and who makes decisions in those phases.

[29:18] An attendee asks about the best time in the lifecycle to sell replacement filters to facilities.

[30:15] Mr. Schnieder speaks about a recent pharmacy activation where he spent much of his time making decisions about filtration. One challenge he faced was smoke-testing the filters, which can be extremely impactful to operations by increasing patient turnaround times when rooms are tested.