Healthcare Design - April 2014 - 10

MONITOR
Weighing the options for data center projects
Healthcare is in the midst of a transformation to
an increasingly technology-driven industry-an
industry that's only going to become even more
dependent on data and information technology,
said Hamilton Espinosa, healthcare core market
leader at DPR Construction (Redwood City,
Calif.), at the ASHE PDC Summit in March.
During the session "Convergence of IT
in Healthcare: One Size Does Not Fit All,"
Espinosa shared that the push is coming from
three different directions: integration of technology and systems, adoption of electronic health
records, and exploration of population health
management.
In order to keep all of these systems running
and information safely stored, health organizations across the country are turning to the
creation of data centers: safe, secure locations
with back-up power and the ability to withstand
a disaster.
However, depending on what's required
by an organization, the initiative can require a
sizable investment in capital, with owners and
their project teams charged with determining
the best option based upon how much risk can
be managed, what experts are needed, and
whether warehousing or keeping data in-house
is more appropriate.
Mark Thompson, mission critical core market
leader at DPR, offered a few options organizations might consider, including leasing options
like cloud storage, collocation in a shared facility, or management by a wholesale provider.
When it comes to capital improvement projects, options include new construction, renovation of an existing data center, or repurposing
space that already offers the required electrical
and cooling systems.
New construction, Thompson said, may
be more attractive for a large system with
available real estate and a staff that's comfortable with operations. For smaller systems, an
added concern may be whether a standalone
facility is warranted at all-the math may show
that a wholesale contract makes more sense.
For renovated spaces, he said challenges
can arise with legacy systems and equipment
that can't be taken offline and moved, while
there's an overall risk of having to take down
the entire data center to complete a project.
However, one perk is avoiding a real estate

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HCDmagazine.com 04.14

purchase, something that can also be done
by repurposing an appropriate space on a
campus that doesn't bring with it the complications of a data center renovation.
Panelist Brian Oylear, senior project manager for Kaiser Permanente's national functions and shared services (Oakland, Calif.),
said five to 10 years ago, the lens used to
plan for technology didn't anticipate the
systems in place today, how close technology is to patients, and how the physical care
environment is enhanced by technology.
"The importance around data centers is
ever more present," he said.
Kaiser's approach, he said, has been
to adopt all of the options available, from
cloud storage to building new centers.
He stressed the need for leadership to be
involved in the decision-making process,
working with a collaborative team to identify
risks and rewards, and to always factor the
total cost of ownership for all capital
projects.-Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

BY THE NUMBERS

85%
Percentage of people
who look for room numbers or
a unit letter rather than a unit
name in hospital wayfinding.
Results are from research
conducted at Stanford's Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital
as part of a wayfinding
master plan project by Kate
Keating Associates Inc. (San
Francisco). For more on the
study, see HCDmagazine.com/
wayfinding-words.
http://www.HCDmagazine.com/ http://www.HCDmagazine.com
Healthcare Design - April 2014

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