Conference Coverage

Advocacy takes center stage at PDC Summit

The 2019 summit wraps up today with a focus on key regulatory issues affecting health care
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Image courtesy of ASHE

Read our recaps of Days 1 and 2 of the PDC Summit.

The International Summit & Exhibition on Planning, Design & Construction (PDC Summit) is wrapping up today in Phoenix with a focus on major regulatory issues affecting health care.

Erik Rasmussen, vice president of the advocacy & public policy group of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) federal relations department, presented on “The Basics of Grassroots Advocacy.” In his report, Rasmussen provided PDC Summit attendees with legislative updates from Congress, the AHA’s 2019 advocacy agenda, an overview of the upcoming 2020 presidential election and a regulatory update.

His presentation detailed areas in which both sides of Congress have been able to work together to push beneficial reforms, such as the opioid epidemic, lowering drug prices, investment in infrastructure, and advancing health care affordability and transparency.

Rasmussen also provided details on five agendas that the AHA is currently focused on:

  • Sustain the gains in health care coverage
  • Protect patient access to care
  • Advance health system transformation
  • Enhance quality and patient safety
  • Promote regulatory relief  

The AHA’s goal to advance health system transformation also includes investing in telehealth and health care infrastructure, such as digital technologies, emergency preparedness and right-sizing facilities.

Rasmussen says the advocacy agenda will help to ensure health care’s crucial function in society.

“We are the safety net in this country,” he says. “We are the ones who will take care of patients regardless of their ability to pay.”

After this morning’s general session wrapped up, attendees split into concurrent sessions on various topics.

Fernanda Pires, EDAC, senior health care planner, Array Architects, and Laura Silvoy, director of continuous improvement, Array Advisors, led the session “Collaborating to Make Decisions in Emergency Department Design.” The session covered how a design team and emergency department staff used lean tools and strategies to understand existing conditions and provide opportunities for improvement in operations.

Coming up later today, in the session “Neighborhood Hospitals 2.0: What’s Changed from a Regulatory and Planning Perspective,” Jason Carney, partner, E4H Architecture; Phil DeBruzzi, FACHE, principal, The Innova Group; and Julissa Tellez, AIA, EDAC, senior director, project development E4H Architecture, will share experiences from planning neighborhood hospitals and discuss key operational areas of this emerging health care setting as well as clinical innovations that support this new model.