The patient experience was always more than simply a consideration as the physician-owned Jefferson City Medical Group prepared to build a new Outpatient Surgery Center.
It has always been of the utmost importance, said Jonathan Craighead, orthopedic surgeon and secretary for the group.
"From the main entrance, all the way through, the patient experience was really our top priority and what we had in mind in designing and building this," Craighead said as he gave a tour of the new facility on Edgewood Drive.
The facility is on schedule to open this spring.
After about a year of construction, the center appears it's nearing completion. But, there are always details to be completed and challenges to be resolved, JCMG officials said. Group President Jeffrey Patrick said supply chain issues caused the group to change some decisions on flooring.
Murray Company, the Kansas City construction company building the center, has kept the project on schedule and on budget, he said.
The center's main patient entrance has a covered drive-through drop-off area -- so in inclement weather, patients will have a dry place to enter. It opens to a waiting area, where people check in. With its cafe-style tables and spread-out private areas, people won't feel cramped, he said.
"People don't want to feel like they're packed into a waiting room. We built (the area) with the idea that ... we want enough space that people feel like they have their privacy, in a comfortable setting," Craighead said.
The new space contrasts with the health care provider's current home, they said.
"Compared to our current facility and those surgery centers, having tall ceilings and lots of windows -- it's just a more inviting, comforting place to come and enjoy a little different experience," Patrick said.
Not that people couldn't enjoy their experiences before. But, the extra room is remarkable, he added.
Years ago, physicians in the group began feeling the walls encroaching around them in the 10,000-square-foot facility where they work. They also recognized Medicaid, Medicare and the insurance companies that offer plans for them, are demanding outpatient services to save money.
"Things like joint replacements and spine surgeries," Patrick said. "It's not really a choice whether you do that. The health plans -- the health insurers -- are insisting you do that."
Procedures are done more cost effectively in the outpatient setting than in the hospital setting, he said.
"If you're trying to control overall health care costs ... to be able to be a part of a modern health care system, you've got to do them."
Missouri physicians are feeling a push toward more outpatient services now, he said.
"It's not really going to be a choice," Patrick said. "We're feeling those pressures, whether it's on surgeries or imaging or almost anything else. You have to do better quality."
And, the group began to wonder where its physicians might gain a little more elbow room. Group leaders suggested building a 6,000-square-foot addition to the existing building, but realized that would only be a temporary fix. And, the expense compared to the benefit would have been difficult to justify.
The group settled on building the $17 million, 28,000-square-foot steel, stone and glass structure that gleams above Edgewood Drive.
When physicians do move into the surgery center, probably in early spring, the move will free up a large chunk of space for the group.
The group is considering its options for the newly freed space, but has not committed to anything yet.
The new center boasts three bays that each contain four private pre-operative rooms, around a corner from the waiting area. On days when people are scheduled for surgeries, they'll be asked to arrive sometime before their appointment and shown to a pre-operative room, where any last-minute tests can be done, or the patient can change into a hospital gown. Patients might be required to interact with surgical staff before the procedure.
"(The pre-operative rooms were) built with the mindset of: We want more space," Craighead said. "We don't want people to feel cramped. We want people to have their loved ones in there with them -- and still have plenty of room to work. It's just giving us a lot more room, so people can feel comfortable."
A nursing station is across a hall from the pre-operative rooms.
Farther back into the structure is the recovery area, alongside the "operating hall," Craighead said with a smile.
"I'm so excited," he said. "I am thrilled with this new space."
"You couldn't get that smile off his face," Patrick said.
Staff at JCMG have been proud of the care they give at the group's current facility, Craighead said. Patient satisfaction rates are the best around.
"We've got the lowest infection rate. We're extremely happy with the care," he said. "But, the space is cramped. Instead of having a private room, you're talking about bays with the curtains in between."
There's not nearly enough privacy in that setting, he said.
"This type of thing just elevates the patient experience to another level. And, that's what we're excited about, really," he said. "Everybody likes the nice digs and everything, but when you think about what you're going to give to the patients, that's what really is exciting for us."
The workspace won't only be the best place for patients -- but also for physicians and nurses, they said.
The new facility is attractive for physicians as well, Craighead said. Having a nice facility is important to them, as is having an efficient place to work.
Part of being in an out-patient setting is being able to do higher quality procedures more efficiently. And that interests physicians, too, he said.
"People want to feel they're practicing in a place that is up-to-date and cutting-edge," Craighead said. "Nobody likes working with old equipment and antiquated systems. I'm an orthopedic surgeon, I can speak to that. Anterior hip replacements is something that is a newer technique that we'll be able to do here."
That procedure will require special equipment, special tables, special "C" arms. C-Arm is a mobile imaging unit used primarily for fluoroscopic imaging during surgical and orthopedic procedures. It also consists of a computer workstation used to view, manipulate, store and transfer the images.
"We have invested in all that here to be able to do that," Craighead said. "We are interested in developing other lines of procedures. And we are prepared to make the capital investments to have the latest technologies for that."
Patrick said he agreed. Physicians are looking for health care groups that are out in front, providing the state-of-the-art facilities with new equipment in the operating room.
The center has anesthesia rooms, a procedure room (which can be used for gastrointestinal procedures or spine pain procedures, injections, carpal tunnel procedures, cataract surgeries and more), two endoscopy rooms and four operating rooms.
"If you walk into the operating room as a surgeon, it's a very nice, spacious operating room," Patrick said. "It's a great facility. There's an effect when the patients come here: If the entire facility is nice and modern and easy to work with, that rubs off on you. That gives a better physicians impression."
A physician can do any procedure they can think of in any of the operating rooms, Craighead said. The operating rooms will include flat screen monitors on the walls for projecting X-rays. They'll have the latest in "scope" equipment for arthroscopic surgeries.
Arthroscopy is a procedure for diagnosing and treating joint problems. A surgeon inserts a narrow tube attached to a fiber-optic video camera through a small incision -- about the size of a buttonhole. The view inside the joint is transmitted to a high-definition video monitor.
Arthroscopy allows the surgeon to see inside a joint without making a large incision. Surgeons can repair some types of joint damage during arthroscopy, using surgical instruments inserted through additional small incisions.
When patients are ready to leave, they'll have their own dedicated, covered space. They'll be able to get in and out of the center as quickly as possible, Patrick said.
"That will really help patients. The happier patients are, the more professional satisfaction that physicians have," he said.