HBE Corporation, the leading nationwide designer and builder of healthcare facilities, and Orange Regional Medical Center (ORMC), New York State's first replacement hospital in more than 20 years, co-presented at the Healthcare Association of New York State's (HANYS) 42nd Annual Conference held on June 23, 2010 at the Sagamore in Lake George, New York.  The presentation, titled "Design-Build: An Approach to Tough Economic Times" was delivered by Wayne Becker, Vice President, New Projects at ORMC and Alan Burcope, Vice President, Project Development at HBE Corporation.

ORMC is a Greenfield hospital being built on 61 acres in the Town of Wallkill, NY and located between the Horton and Arden Hill hospital campuses, which the new hospital will replace in March 2011.

Wayne Becker of ORMC explained how the new seven-story, 374-bed, 621,000 square foot hospital came to be built and why HBE's unique approach to design-build was selected, "It was the vision of the Board of Directors to create a new hospital, starting in January, 2005.  We had a budget of $255 million dollars, which is not a lot of money.  The best the independent architect, engineer, and construction manager could do was $320 million dollars for 320 beds.  We sent out RFP's to the three top firms.  There are a lot of hybrids...or people coming together to create a design-build model.  HBE is the only true integrated design-build firm.  Our Board of Directors and our hospital family...ultimately selected HBE who has the most experience.  We're building a hospital for around $720,000 a bed versus a projected million dollars a bed, which would not have given us a hospital big enough to serve our community.  Another one of the major benefits is one firm, one point of accountability.  With a traditional model, you point at the architect, the architect points at the engineer, and the engineer points at the construction guy."

Alan Burcope of HBE discussed the significant differences between HBE's business model and the traditional architect/construction process, and why a value-driven approach is particularly relevant in today's market.  "The prevailing method used to design and build hospitals is not designed to provide support for value-based decision making.  Even industry proponents are beginning to acknowledge that the process is inherently flawed.  Hospitals are looking for an opportunity to understand the value of their project before they commit to purchasing it.  It's leading them to look for a comparative, something to compare against.  They're looking for that cost certainty; they're looking for alignment of interests.  We call it a Value Comparative.  It's a project-specific benchmark for you to compare one solution versus another solution.  It's an integrated solution.  HBE is a single organization, all under one roof.  It's an executable proposal.  It's not an estimate.  An estimate is not reliable.  HBE only works under a Guaranteed Lump Sum scenario.  The reason we do that is because we believe it aligns our interests and our client's interest in the best way possible.  It defines a clear understanding of the project and a clear understanding of the cost.  There may be others that are willing to do this.  But HBE believes that a client should not be asked for any type of commitment, financial or otherwise, until and unless we demonstrate to them a solution that meets their value criteria as they define it.  ORMC was prudent and made the decision very early to begin to understand the value of their project and to compare it.  It's resulted in a 10-20% savings over traditional industry costs, making no compromises.  Clients have a right to demand to understand the relative value of their project before they commit to buying it.  Comparison is the basis of value." 

I reviewing the efficiencies of ORMC's program and HBE's superior design and quality construction, Wayne Becker concluded, "I think you need to consider design-build as a really viable construction option any time.   HBE has really been our success factor in creating the new ORMC.  It's been especially effective for us in these tough economic times".