Unifying and Improving a Health System – Bulk Purchasing

In September 2013, Mercy Health contracted Danis Building Construction Company to provide construction management for five behavioral health projects. Array Architects served as the design team, working closely with Danis project managers.

When a health system identifies a service line to redefine and improve, they benefit from a team of consultants who speak their language, understand their business and have the deep bench to implement changes swiftly.

With facilities throughout Ohio and Northern Kentucky, Mercy Health sought to bring parity to their hospitals and provide each community a full spectrum of health services. The design and construction team performed facility assessments to determine the minimum Behavioral Health consensus that needed to be maintained during construction, as well as whether renovation, new construction or a combination were the best solution for each facility. They also explored the cost savings of employing a bulk-purchasing plan to save funds, improve efficiencies and ensure the desired standardization system-wide. This strategy alone saved Mercy Health in material, equipment and fixture costs.

Each of the System’s facilities was to receive identical room layouts with similarly finished spaces – systems, finishes and fixtures – and implement the same operational approaches at each facility. With a short schedule and multiple, similarly natured projects, repeatable materials, equipment and fixtures across projects were purchased in bulk.

The following items were selected as candidates for bulk purchasing:

• Solid Surface Materials (shower surroundings, specialty pre-manufactured base, etc)
• Doors, door Frames and Door Hardware (anti-ligature hardware and door alarm sensors)
• Gypsum board products (specifically specialty abuse resistant drywall and accessories)
• Resilient flooring products (carpet, sheet vinyl, rubber tiles and rubber base)
• Epoxy flooring (patient toilet and shower rooms)
• Toilet accessories and fire protection specialties (anti-ligature, security and detention type items)
• Plumbing fixtures (showers, toilets, sinks, etc)
• Air Devices (HVAC grilles, registers and diffusers)
• Lighting Fixtures (fixtures, sensors, network lighting controls and devices)

At the time of this decision, only the Mercy Clermont project had been designed – the other projects were only in early conceptualization. Without quantities and knowledge of site-specific conditions that might alter the needs of each item, Danis Building Construction Company created a process to protect Mercy’s assets given the unknowns.

Stay tuned for more details of this process, some examples of the challenges presented and the solutions that led to a successful bulk purchasing effort.

Nick Hoyng is the Director of Business Development for Danis Building Construction Company. Brian Currin is a Project Manager with Danis.