Obamacare’s Unintended Effect on Hospitals

Soule: “Some healthcare decisions like orthopedic and having a baby are marketing-based decisions. People will check out facilities and choose where they want to go, so these facilities are having to keep up with each other in terms of quality of space as well as quality of staff in those service lines particularly.”

SAN DIEGO—Many patients are finding physicians won’t take their health insurance, but emergency departments are required to do so under the Affordable Care Act, causing these patients to “slam” hospital emergency departments, Cuningham Group Architecture Inc. designer and principal Phil Soule tells GlobeSt.com. The firm, along with its partner, Swinerton Builders, was recently recognized with a National Design-Build Project/Team Award during the Design-Build Institute of America’s 21^st-annual Design-Build Project/Team Awards for the Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital expansion and modernization project.

Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital is San Diego County’s largest privately operated psychiatric hospital and one of the largest behavioral-health providers in the nation. Originally constructed in the 1960s, the facility provides comprehensive behavioral-health services for patients experiencing anxiety, bi-polar disorder, depression, dementia, substance abuse, eating disorders and other conditions. The redesign expanded the facility to 26,800 square feet.