Matt Miller
Matt Miller is a Regional Healthcare Executive for Turner Construction, where he is in charge of leading all KC area healthcare projects. Current clients include Children’s Mercy Hospital, Olathe Medical Center, Shawnee Mission Medical Center and The University of Kansas Hospital.
A graduate of Iowa State University, Matt joined Turner in 2000 as a Project Engineer. He spent 10 years with the Turner Construction National Healthcare Group, putting in place nearly $1 billion of work at hospitals and healthcare facilities in the Southeast, including the Owensboro Medical Center, Middle Tennessee Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Miller's specialty lies in leading collaborative teams and implementing lean construction practices in an effort to deliver better projects to clients. He has extensive experience utilizing Integrated Project Delivery on healthcare projects. An expert in implementing target value design, Matt excels in working closely with project teams to ensure they have maximized the program within clients’ budgets.
Miller will be an honored speaker at MetroWireMedia's 2016 Healthcare Summit on November 9. We asked Matt to weigh in on some trends in healthcare and development before the event. Here's what he had to say.
Do you see any new trends surfacing in healthcare for 2017?
MATT MILLER: "For various reasons (including CMS pushing out the MACRA ruling) we continue to see stand-alone physicians become part of large health systems. This continues to drive MOBs and outpatient centers. Therefore, we expect healthcare construction to continue to grow slow but sure, driven in part by outpatient centers.
"Many hospitals have delayed plans to see what the ACA would do to them as it relates to profit. With the Average Length of Stay on the decline over the past decade, the need for more bed space has not been as urgent. Because of the ACA pushing IT initiatives, many hospitals chose to redirect construction dollars in order to invest in robust IT systems. With this now behind most hospitals, we expect to see more renovations and additions begin within the next couple of years. In addition, as more procedures are done on an outpatient basis, hospital patients are more acute therefore creating less of a need for surgical beds and more of a need for ICUs and CCUs.
"We expect to see more products introduced in the future that help owners address the change in reimbursement thru ACA. As CMS is focused on increased quality scores (reducing HAIs, etc.), we see the industry respond with high-tech ways to combat HAIs, reduce noise etc. (such as HAI killing light fixtures, etc.) Lastly, we expect to see owners push lean concepts into the design of healthcare space, resulting in smaller, more efficient facilities."
What challenges are you facing as we approach 2017?
MM: "The biggest challenge we see in healthcare construction is the lack of skilled tradesmen. Other market segments are extremely busy and we have seen a shortage of skilled construction workers."
What about long term goals in healthcare?
MM: "One significant goal is to push prefabrication of components for healthcare facilities, which helps to combat construction worker shortage and reduce cost."
Which direction do you see the healthcare economy going over the next few years?
MM: "I agree with most industry publications that predict healthcare construction will continue to grow at around 6-8% per year in order to accommodate the baby boomers."
Do you have any concerns about the future of the healthcare economy?
MM: "Of course, all that we have discussed could completely change depending on the outcome of the election and how the new President of the United States will address the challenges of the ACA. CMS currently pays nearly 40% of all hospital bills and major changes in reimbursement will have drastic effects on the future of healthcare construction."
Interested in hearing more from Matt? See more details and register to attend our 2016 Healthcare Summit, which takes place next week! Sponsorship opportunities also remain; Find more information here.