An Amerinet Success Story
Challenge
As healthcare continues to evolve, small rural providers face overwhelming obstacles to maintain and provide quality healthcare in their communities. For Hamilton Memorial Hospital District (HMHD), a critical access provider in rural Illinois, that meant an older, outdated facility. “HMHD opened its doors in 1960 for in-patient services. As services grew, new departments were added where space was available. The result was a building with services scattered throughout the facility, creating patient inconvenience and building inefficiency that hampered staff,” said Toni Metheney, purchasing director for HMHD.
Solution
In 2009, HMHD entered into the integration phase of an $18.5 million renovation project to add an additional 36,000 square feet to its existing building structure – more than doubling its size. Architectural planning developed a “Medical Mall” strategy to achieve HMHD’s goals of creating synergy among departments, improving patient care, and increasing staff and patient satisfaction in patient outcomes and procedures. An Amerinet member since 1994, HMHD utilized Amerinet’s portfolio of construction and renovation products and services to source building materials and equipment at a pricing level that would enable the facility to stay within budget. “Amerinet’s early involvement in the planning, design and construction resulted in vendors matching the design parameters set by the architect, and assured more local contractor involvement to keep spending within our community to increase the overall economic impact of this project,” said Metheney.
Outcome
The result of the long and arduous planning process resulted in a striking and multi-functional emergency department, clinic area, surgical suite, business office and public waiting area. The design and placement of ancillary departments next to one another has helped to expedite processes and increases not only patient care and satisfaction, but physician and employee satisfaction as well. “HMHD was able to achieve 10 to 12 percent savings on construction costs while enhancing the overall bottom line revenues because of our relationship with Amerinet,” said Metheney. “Amerinet is hands on; they keep me updated regarding contracts. Any and all questions that I have are answered in great detail. My Amerinet representative stays in close contact and enables me to be successful in utilizing the correct vendors to achieve our savings goals for HMHD.”