Chris Dunn, who is with Epstein Becker Green’s Healthcare Construction Group in Nashville, TN, counsels healthcare owners and developers on all aspects of construction projects.
In this Q&A with Healthcare Finance, Dunn shares his thoughts on managing projects during a time of staffing shortages, budget changes, cost increases and what he called unpredictable construction contract landmines.
“In healthcare construction there were always the traditional, pre-pandemic challenges related to the CMS technical and reimbursement requirements, and state agency oversight, Dunn said. “In some states, the industry had lobbied for and achieved great advantages in legislation. Those were all a given. But since the pandemic, construction in the U.S. has changed and comes with several new challenges such as intense labor shortages, supply chain disarray and decreases in revenue parallel to inflation and interest rate increases.
“Today’s healthcare executives not only have all the traditional challenges of the past but also must handle these new adversities and associated risks that have made careful planning and negotiation of design and construction agreements critical for project success. You cannot be on autopilot today. Provisions dealing with delay and cost escalation used to be boilerplate. Those days are gone for the time being.” Read more.
