Conversion to private rooms among goals of $54M Milford Regional project
Construction of a new wing at Milford Regional Medical Center is underway, and while the hospital’s new emergency department and intensive care units will house state-of-the-art technology and boast more square footage, the availability of more private rooms may be even more attractive to prospective patients.
According to hospital administrators, new construction projects at Massachusetts hospitals must feature only single-patient rooms. That measure is designed to decrease the risk of contagion between patients and increase patient privacy, which has become increasingly important under state and federal laws governing medical privacy.
Roommates present challenges
One floor of Milford Regional’s inpatient unit has rooms that can accommodate as many as four patients, according to CEO Frank Saba. But the hospital often cannot use those rooms to capacity anyway, since patients with infections cannot be grouped with others, and male and female patients must be separate, rendering the use of the space inefficient in some instances.
When patients are rooming with others, doctors and nurses often have trouble moving freely about the rooms, and discussing health problems with sick patients can be awkward, Saba said.
“We hear about it often — the challenges —from the physicians,” Saba said.
Milford Regional celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of its new wing March 31. The two-story building will house an expanded emergency department and intensive care unit, as well as a new 24-bed patient unit. Construction of the new wing is slated for completion in late summer of 2015. And the hospital will begin the process of converting all patient rooms to singles under the $54-million project.
Treating patients as consumers
While creating more room and updating technology may be the primary focus of the capital project, Milford Regional also appears to be treating patients increasingly like consumers, which they are. Consumer-driven health insurance plans have gained popularity in the last few years, which have put patients in the proverbial driver’s seat when it comes to choosing providers.
Many of those decisions are prompted by cost considerations, but now that hospitals must also report quality metrics, such as readmissions, to the federal government, patients will likely use that information as they decide where to seek treatment as well.
Ed Kelly, president of Milford Regional, said the hospital is licensed for 145 beds, and while that number won’t increase under the project, it’s likely that the hospital will be able to accommodate more patients as the conversion to private rooms is rolled out.
“It might seem logical that having semi-private rooms might save money, but for one, it’s just not what consumers want,” Kelly said. “And (it’s just) more efficient (to use private rooms).”
Normal hospital operations will not be interrupted by construction, with the exception of parking. Employees have been asked to park in a lot farther away from the hospital to allow patients to continue to find convenient parking during construction, according to Saba.
The ability to continue smooth operations throughout the construction phase was one factor in selecting a construction firm to carry out the project. In the end, Milford-based Consigli Construction Co. was selected from a pool of about a dozen qualified applicants.
Meanwhile, hospital fundraisers have netted $17 million in donations from the community as well as hospital staff, bringing Milford Regional within sight of its $25-million fundraising goal.
“We would certainly hope and expect to have that goal reached by the time the building is complete,” Saba said.
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