The pandemic has triggered countless changes across all walks of life, many of which seem certain to endure even when COVID-19 is a distant, unpleasant memory. Many millions of people around the world will continue working from home, booming online retail activity is here to stay, and video streaming has never been on firmer ground. Movie theaters and studios, on the other hand, are wrestling with more difficult lasting consequences.
On the healthcare front, the pandemic jump-started a telehealth trend that had been simmering for several years. Before COVID, nearly 80% of U.S. hospitals had some kind of telehealth service, but only 8% of consumers had ever used such a service. The pandemic changed everything. Telehealth claim lines increased more than 4,000% nationally from March 2019 to March 2020.
As with remote work, online shopping and video streaming, telehealth offers the kind of convenience users tend to embrace once they overcome early hurdles related to technological insecurities. We have every reason to believe demand for telehealth services will remain high in a post-pandemic world. This is a positive development for an industry facing serious capacity issues related to the rapid ramp-up of telehealth and other IT expansions across the healthcare space.
As these IT expansion projects become more common, it is imperative that healthcare professionals assemble a diverse team to ensure a successful project. While there is no way to guarantee a stress and issue free project, there are steps healthcare organizations can take to mitigate the impact. It all starts with building commissioning, which can – when done effectively – keep IT deployments and facility construction projects on time and on budget; even under today’s trying circumstances.
As a quality-focused process for enhancing the delivery of the project, commissioning provides a safeguard against common construction pitfalls and helps ensure every aspect of a facility project is completed on time and as it should be. Commissioning helps:
- Keep your project on schedule with fewer change orders
- Keep construction costs in check and reduce facility operating and energy costs
- Verify that all building equipment, systems and assemblies (electrical, mechanical, monitoring and control, along with specialty projects) are installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet the Owner's Project Requirements (OPR).
If you would like to learn more about building commissioning at Vertiv, email me.
Electrical Reliability Services (ERS) is a Vertiv company.
