STYLE Media and Design

Steven Dubs, M.D., surgeon with Greeley Medical Clinic, P.C.

Convenience for doctors and patients was the key factor in construction of the Centerra North and South medical office buildings adjacent to the Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR) in Loveland. Both buildings have covered walkways directly into the hospital and were developed by Loveland-based McWhinney.

With the opening of the North building earlier this year, patients are now able to have labs or X-rays done minutes before seeing their family physician and meet with any number of specialists at GMC’s Medical Clinic at Centerra, P.C. The South building opened with MCR in 2007 and includes Heart Center of the Rockies, a pharmacy, and durable medical goods store, among others.

“It’s a one-stop shop for world-class medical treatment,” says Ron Kuehl, McWhinney Vice President of Real Estate. “It’s very common throughout the country to have on-campus medical offices, but unique to Northern Colorado. These are the only true medical office buildings on the campus of a hospital facility in this region. Patients don’t have to run all over town for tests or specialists, it’s all right here and they appreciate that.”

The MCR campus master plan included two medical office buildings flanking the hospital as part of the 91-acre campus. Although no one expected the North building to go up so quickly, Greeley Medical Clinic was eager to move its doctors and services closer to MCR, Kuehl says.

The Colorado Contemporary style of both buildings blends well with the look of MCR. Native buff sandstone quarried in Masonville was used on the exterior and continued in the interior common lobbies for a mountain feel. Brick and Centria, a sleek pre-finished metal panel system with concealed fasteners, were selected for the exterior to reflect the stature of the providers and level of care offered within, says Tim Stern, Project Manager for Delta Construction, Inc., who served as general contractor for the project.

The North Medical Office building opened in early 2009 and is home to the Medical Clinic at Centerra and Caring Hearts Home Health Care.

The little details like a covered patient drop-off area and clear signage take into account the patient experience as soon as you exit Interstate-25 and drive into the lot. Stepping inside the North building, patients are greeted by a warm, inviting color palette of muted tones and cheerful geometric rugs. Paintings by local Front Range artists dot the walls and modern yet comfortable couches and chairs in the waiting areas create a sense of calm worlds away from the cold, clinical feel of most doctors’ offices.

The Medical Clinic houses 27 physicians with specialties in family practice, internal medicine, gastroenterology, oncology, rheumatology, dermatology, and general surgeons. Blood and imaging labs that include ultrasound, X-ray, CT scans, and MRI bays are located on the first floor. The imaging department has comfortable changing rooms, each with its own small waiting area for privacy.

Upstairs are minor surgical procedure rooms and infusion suites for cancer and arthritis patients with panoramic mountain views. Additional services are provided by Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, the Urology Center of the Rockies, and Caring Hearts Home Health Care, who all lease space from GMC.

The layout is open rather than separate, walled-off offices filling the space. Everyone checks in at a central desk and finds their “storefront” within the long waiting room that is closest to their doctor’s door. The storefronts are divided by hanging glass panels stenciled with trees that were created so everyone is not bunched into one place. Phone calls and scheduling actually happen in the back of the building for both confidentiality and to keep the waiting area as calm and quiet as possible.

“It feels like a good, soothing environment when you come here – truly a place to get better,” says Donna Lankford, Director of Operations for Greeley Medical Clinic. “We designed this building for medical purposes and we’ve had rave reviews. Many of our patients say they prefer to come here rather than other physician’s offices because there’s generally no wait and it’s not as chaotic.”

The South Medical Office building houses Heart Center of the Rockies and was completed in 2007

GMC has an ownership share in the North building and also has sites near the North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley and Loveland’s McKee Medical Center.

The Medical Clinic doctors have “work patterns” which are small offices 5 ½ feet by 6 ½ feet set behind a nurse’s station of the same dimensions. A door separates them for doctor-patient confidentiality during phone calls. The offices are shared with no one owning a particular area, allowing for maximum flexibility and use.

“The physicians indicated the work pattern allows them to hand their nurses something rather than calling them or walking down the hall,” Lankford says. “Physicians can see patients more quickly and on time. There is more effective communication with nurses and assistants. If a physician is not working, another one can hold clinic utilizing the same work space.”

Stern, a veteran of medical office building construction, was certainly impressed with GMC’s design concepts. “The Medical Clinic at Centerra space is really innovative. It’s the first time I’ve seen an office combine the doctors’ and nurses’ spaces in one little room,” says Stern. “It was also unusual to combine a bunch of different specialties in one space on each floor rather than their own distinct offices.”

Denise Swingle, RN, and owner of Caring Hearts Home Health Care, was thrilled when GMC invited her agency to expand to the North building.

Gary Luckasen, M.D., President of the Heart Center of the Rockies

“Servicing the aging population is very important to us and this location is ideal,” Swingle said. “We can talk directly to the physicians, make eye contact, and discuss a patient’s problems. Then we speak to a patient before they are discharged about the care they need at home. Elderly folks feel more comfortable if they get to meet us beforehand.”

Caring Hearts Home Health Care, ranked in the top 100 of Home Health Care agencies in the country, is working to raise awareness among doctors and the public about the range of services available for at-home care. Their office at the Medical Clinic is like an endorsement from a doctor and a platform to educate patients, medical assistants, and physicians about medical care in the home, Swingle added.

If business in the South building is any indication, patients are certainly benefiting from the cost savings and convenience of having their health care needs taken care of in one location. As the region’s premier cardiac care center, many patients travel hundreds of miles to be treated at Heart Center of the Rockies.

The Heart Center shares special diagnostic equipment for heart patients with the hospital and pulmonologists and cardiac rehabilitation specialists in the South building. The machines are housed in a first floor hospital room that adjoins the Heart Center’s offices for easy access.

“We didn’t want to waste space or resources,” says Dr. Gary Luckasen, President of the Heart Center of the Rockies. “This saves on costs and staff can flex between inpatient and outpatient services. It is great to have everything right here.”

McWinney's Ron Kuehl, Vice President of Real Estate, and Dean Barber, Vice President of Development for the Medical Group

Those patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation are clearly safer because specialists are right on site if they should collapse on the treadmill or anything goes wrong, Luckasen adds. “It’s also convenient if a patient gets a test done and has abnormal results, we can put them in the hospital right away.”

Heart Center doctors share work pods when they are in the office and have access to studies in the hospital as well as electronic records and testing results, a common move among hospitals and physicians to use less paper files to ensure accuracy and cut down on errors.

The casual observer may not notice, but several green design features were included in the North and South buildings to save energy and electricity, says Dean Barber, McWhinney Vice President of Development for the Medical Group. A special building management system controls the HVAC unit and electrical can be fine-tuned for efficiency so lights shut off when rooms are unoccupied, motors can be phased up or down, and adjustments made to let in more fresh air.

The silver sunscreens above the windows are adjusted in the winter months to provide passive solar heat for the building and deflect heat in the scorching summertime, Barber notes. A tan reflective roof was installed so heat is not absorbed into the building, and a whopping 75 percent of what left the site during construction – like cardboard, wood, and concrete – was reused or recycled and kept out of the landfill.

The building is a success on many fronts, but efficiency in patient care stands at the forefront. “I’ve been developing medical buildings for over 15 years and you really see an improvement in the quality and efficiency of the patient care system when physicians, imaging, outpatient, and specialty physicians are represented in one location rather than in 40 clinics spread out all over the place,” Barber says. “It helps the patient and it’s a better solution than stand-alone medical offices, in my opinion.” +