Health care building automation, controls model shifts

Hospital, health care insights

• Hospitals, health care facilities and related medical buildings require integration and interoperability provided by the building automation and controls.
• Interconnectivity via automation and controls can make a huge difference in the patient experience.

Respondents

• Tanner Burke, PE, Senior Fire Protection Engineer, ACS Group, Austin, Texas
• Derek Cornell, Senior Associate, Certus Consulting Engineers, Dallas, Texas
• Beth Gorney, PE, Assistant Project Manager, Dewberry, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Sierra Spitulski, PE, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal/Studio Leader/Mechanical Engineer/Project Manager, P2S Inc., Long Beach, California
• Kristie Tiller, PE, LEED AP, Associate, Team Leader, Lockwood Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN), Dallas, Texas.

Tanner Burke, PE, Senior Fire Protection Engineer, ACS Group, Austin, Texas; Derek Cornell, Senior Associate, Certus Consulting Engineers, Dallas, Texas; Beth Gorney, PE, Assistant Project Manager, Dewberry, Raleigh, North Carolina; Sierra Spitulski, PE, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal/Studio Leader/Mechanical Engineer/Project Manager, P2S Inc., Long Beach, California; Kristie Tiller, PE, LEED AP, Associate, Team Leader, Lockwood Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN), Dallas, Texas.

From your experience, what systems within hospitals, health care facilities and medical campus projects are benefiting from automation that previously might not have been?

Derek Cornell: Automated real-time location systems (RTLS) and their integration into something as simple as the light fixtures in the space is proving to be beneficial to health care facilities. It is important for health care facilities to be flexible, adaptable buildings and a robust asset tracking system is crucial to effective facility operation.

Sierra Spitulski: The future of automation within hospitals is a bright one. From wayfinding, interfacing patients with the hospital directly by leveraging the patient experience with technology to increasing equipment interconnectivity, which enables even the lowest level coil to interface with these more sophisticated central controls systems to give or take commands according to programmed sequences, this a big direction for the future.

What types of system integration and/or interoperability issues have you overcome for these projects and how did you do so?

Sierra Spitulski: The biggest hurdle for hospitals on the systems integration and interoperability front has been proprietary versus nonproprietary control systems. For nonproprietary systems, the best model we’ve used as of late involves using a cloud-based server to ensure standardized sequences and programming to allow for normalized bids, reduction of licensing fees and better control of contractor installations. By removing proprietary controls, hospitals aren’t forced to sacrifice quality and can hold contractors accountable when necessary.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Behavioral Health Center project is an adaptive repurposing of the former MLK hospital building. The 5-story, 505,000 square foot building was demolished to the structural members and floors, then rebuilt with new MEPT services and distribution systems with supply service points of connection in the existing campus central utility plant. Courtesy: P2S Inc.

Cybersecurity and vulnerability are increasing concerns. Are you encountering worry/resistance around wireless technology and internet of things as the prevalence of such features increases? How are you responding to these concerns?

Derek Cornell: Hospitals contain a vast amount of secure data including information that is required to be protected from fraud and theft by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (known as HIPAA). This is one of the reasons why security is a real concern with any wireless system in health care facilities and why hospital information technology leads are very hesitant to allow this technology in to their campuses. One way to prevent cyberattacks on these secure systems is to ensure any wireless technology that is implemented in to a facility does not operate on a standard Wi-Fi signal, but rather uses an IEEE 802.15.4 protocol such as ZigBee. This type of protocol and the standards put in place are designed to prevent the interference.

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