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Business & Labor
A Hoosier Firm Plants Midwestern Values
(midwest.construction.com,
July 2006 issue)
By Craig
Barner
Visiting Methodist Hospital in
Indianapolis is like taking a snapshot of Midwestern values:
Attentiveness, strong principles and professionalism are
evident throughout.
Well-groomed lawns embrace the main
entrance of the 775-bed facility on the city's Near North
Side. Inside, directions are clearly marked so visitors know
where they are going or where to find help. Physicians and
nurses in white gowns confer animatedly as they circulate.
The qualities of hard work, dedication
and excellence emerge with lucidity in the executive suite
of Clarian Health Partners Inc., the parent organization of
Methodist, Indiana University Hospital and Riley Hospital
for Children, three hospitals that merged in 1997 to create
Clarian.
Daniel Evans Jr., 57, president and
CEO of Clarian, has the dulcet tones and thoughtfulness that
mark him as a native Hoosier reared in the Midwest.
Complementing him is the enthusiasm
of fellow Midwesterner Douglas Morris, 52, vice president
of operations and facilities. Their combined attention to
detail and energy has seemingly filtered throughout the organization.
Their vision of development to improve
patient health, provide clinical and research excellence and
help serve the community have helped made Clarian a good doctor.
The organization has emerged as a major
developer in Indianapolis and throughout the rest of the Hoosier
state since the partnership of hospitals formed nine years
ago.
Overall, Evans said Clarian has built
at least $750 million worth of construction projects since
forming.
In its original formation, Clarian had
just the three flagship facilities. Today, it comprises 17
hospitals and health-care centers.
Previously, the organization's facilities
were only in the city of Indianapolis. It has since constructed
two major suburban hospitals, the approximately $258 million
Clarian North Medical Center in Carmel and the $170 million
Clarian West Medical Center in Avon.
Smaller, less-celebrated projects included
a child-care center, hemodialysis facility and pulmonary sleep
laboratory. The organization also has expanded to other parts
of the state, including LaPorte, Bedford and Tipton.
Most important, the organization is
helping drive further economic activity by playing a leadership
role in research, health care and Indianapolis' vast life-sciences
sector.
David Johnson, president and CEO of
BioCrossroads, a coordinating organization of life-science
organizations in Indianapolis, said the metropolitan area
is likely among the top-10 in terms of economic activity in
the life sciences nationwide. He points to the unnamed, six-acre
research and biotech park in the old canal area just north
of downtown at 10th and Meridian streets that is being developed
jointly by Clarian, the Indiana University School of Medicine,
Purdue University and others.
"Clarian has really been single-handedly
responsible for taking the vision of having a life-sciences
research, residential and business incubator all in proximity
and putting up significant buildings," Johnson said.
"And, they're projects attract other life sciences development."
Clarian has a board position on BioCrossroads
and contributes an undisclosed amount of funding, Johnson
said.
In its January report, the New York-based
Standard & Poor's Rating Services cited Clarian's name
as part of its recently raised credit rating on Indiana-issuer
debt to "AA+" from "AA." (Standard &
Poor's and Midwest Construction are both properties of the
McGraw-Hill Cos.) Clarian was cited as an example of Indiana's
growing service sector for "lead(ing) the way" in
development for research, medical practice and life sciences.
For these and other reasons that Midwest
Construction has named Clarian its 2006 owner and developer
of the year, the magazine's eighth ever. Clarian is the first
Indiana-organization to receive the honor.
Young Clarian, Old History
Clarian is a relatively young organization,
but its predecessors have a long history in Indianapolis.
Methodist Hospital opened in 1908, and IU Hospital and Reilly
followed not long after.
The hospitals merged in part to take
advantage of the resources of the large urban setting in Indianapolis
for educating doctors, providing care and inspiring research.
Clarian saw the opportunity because
many hospitals in the city previously followed their customers
during the rapid suburbanization of the 1950s and 1960s.
The consolidation of Clarian also enhanced
the hospitals' creditworthiness and economic sway to expand
operations.
"Our ability to expand was enhanced
by the merger," Evans said. "IU [Hospital] could
not have done that by itself, and Methodist Hospital could
not have done it by itself."
The merger has enhanced Clarian's reputation
for clinical excellence. Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour
de France winner and sports hero, was treated at IU Hospital
in 1996 for testicular cancer prior to his championship run.
In 2005, Clarian had more than $2 billion
in billings, a doubling from only five years previous due
in part to its expansion. It has 1,580 beds in its core downtown
Indianapolis and suburban hospitals and employs more than
11,000 people.
Evans has brought a wealth of business,
legal and political experience with him to the leadership
position.
A lawyer by training, he previously
worked for Baker & Daniels LLP, a law firm in Indianapolis.
In the early 1990s, he was chairman of Federal Home Loan Bank
Corp. in Indianapolis, a wholesale institution that provides
funding for home mortgages issued by member banks in Indiana
and Michigan.
His political work includes serving
as the chairman of the Indiana Board of Corrections in the
1970s and 1980s and working as the campaign manager of former
Gov. Otis Bowen, a Republican who served from 1973 to 1981.
Evans cherishes his heritage. He is
the fifth generation of his family to serve as a trustee of
Clarian or its predecessor.
"I sit 30 ft. from where I was
born," he added.
Morris is an architect who started his
career with Archonics Inc., a design firm in Fort Wayne where
his work included designing health-care facilities. About
20 years ago, he moved to the hospital owner's side by working
in clinical engineering and maintenance with Parkview Hospital,
also in Fort Wayne. He started with Methodist in 1992.
Not content to sit, Clarian has multiple
projects under way, including the approximately $235 million
Riley Phase V Bed Tower expansion, $150 million IU Cancer
Center and the $44 million Education and Resource Center at
the Canal.
Patient-Centered Design
As part of its expansion, Clarian has
a definitive approach to architecture: evidence-based design.
The design philosophy seeks to improve
patients' health in part because of studies showing a link
between patient health and the way a hospital is designed.
"You've got to prove the design
feature has a beneficial effect for the purpose the building
was designed," Evans said. "Your opinion is no good
to us: You've got to present evidence."
According to the Concord, Calif.-based
research organization Center for Health Design, evidence-based
elements could include providing patients with single rooms
that can be adjusted to meet medical needs; improving indoor
air quality with well-designed ventilation systems; and using
sound-absorbing ceiling tiles and carpeting.
Clarian placed patient stations near
patient rooms in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit at Methodist,
Morris said. The idea worked because patient falls went down
75 percent.
Clarian officials prod designers to
think about key things patients experience during their stay,
such as lighting levels, layout of rooms and noise levels.
"They are an involved and interested
owner who is looking to do architecture that is interesting
and functional for their needs," said Bill Browne Jr.,
president of Indianapolis-based Ratio Architects Inc., a firm
that has done four projects with Clarian.
A curative design was the overall theme
at Clarian West, said Ben Wilhelm, vice president of Indianapolis-based
Shiel Sexton Co. Inc., a partner of in the Shiel Sexton/GM
Construction Joint Venture that served as the general contractor.
It included gardens, water fountains,
greenscape and walking paths.
"In the lobby area, it feels like
a ski lodge," Wilhelm said. "It's tranquil and serene."
SIDEBAR One
Enhancing Research, Patient Care
A vision that includes using development
in part to improve patient outcomes and drive research has
driven the expansion of Clarian Health Partners Inc. in Indianapolis.
"We are not building buildings
just to own buildings," said Douglas Morris, vice president
of operations and facilities. "We've got a mission or
purpose for health care, and that sometimes results in a building
and sometimes doesn't."
Take, for instance, the $65 million
clinical laboratory on Canal Street. It will consolidate in
one location the expertise and equipment for the eight million
tests Clarian performs each year on patients.
The 320,000-sq.-ft., six-level laboratory
is located on Clarian's People Mover monorail, and blood samples
will zip in from hospitals up to a mile away via pneumatic
tubes attached to the People Mover line.
Only five to seven minutes are needed
to get the sample from the patient floor to the lab, Morris
said.
"We're going to return test information
to the physicians faster than we ever could before and more
efficiently because the labs are consolidated in one place,"
he added.
They arrive with a barcode and go to
the appropriate area for testing. After the test is performed,
the results are stored in a computer, and caregivers in the
remote hospital location can access the results. Meantime,
the sample is put in storage in case further tests are needed.
In addition its normal testing function,
the lab will also be used as an education and conference space
for educating medical students and as office space for pathologists
who oversee the facility.
Located in the unnamed six-acre biotech
park at the head of the canal just north of downtown Indianapolis,
the facility will also house the School of Medical Technology.
James Garrard, the recently appointed director of economic
development for the city of Indianapolis, said Clarian's development
is driving quality jobs into the city.
"Those are good-paying jobs, and
those are a boon for our economy," he said.
Indeed, Clarian has provided "hundreds of millions"
of dollars for research as part of its health-care mission,
and its research focus is increasingly generating return benefits,
said Dan Evans Jr., Clarian CEO and president.
"We help fund the attraction and
retention of world-class scientists," he added.
"Clarian has partnered with the
IU School of Medicine, which means the facilities have to
be first rate in every respect."
Indianapolis' Eli Lilly Foundation announced
in May that it is giving a gift of $7.5 million to help fund
the approximately $150 million IU Cancer Center - a collaborative
project between the IU School of Medicine and Clarian - that
recently started. The grant is Lilly's largest, one-time donation.
Clarian has a board position on BioCrossroads,
a coordinating organization of life-science organizations
in Indianapolis, and contributes an undisclosed amount of
funding.
"It's a pretty selective board
of industry leaders," said David Johnson, president and
CEO of BioCrossroads.
SIDEBAR Two
Clarian's Community
Community responsiveness is a key attribute
of the development plans of Clarian Health Partners Inc.
Clarian North Medical Center was constructed
in suburban Carmel in part because Hamilton County is among
the nation's top-25 fastest-growing counties. Carmel itself
saw 49 percent population growth during the 1990s and has
added another 14 percent since then.
Similarly, Clarian West was started
in suburban Avon because Hendricks County is believed to be
among the top-100 fastest-growing nationwide.
But the People Mover monorail downtown
might be the most visible example of community attentiveness.
The system conveys Clarian employees and the general public
among its different facilities over a 1.5-mi. elevated route.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
at one time cited Indianapolis for nonattainment of emissions
goals, something that drew the attention of Clarian officials
in part because of the health implications.
The People Mover opened in 2003 and
provides, on average, 38,000 rides a month, said Daniel Evans
Jr., president and CEO of Clarian.
"So that's eliminated 20,000 [car]
rides a month," he added. "That's an incredible
number of engines not starting up."
Ironically, Clarian employees greeted
the idea with skepticism when it was originally announced
because of the perceived simplicity of jumping in a car, but
"now, it is almost essential that the People Mover is
running," said Douglas Morris, Clarian vice president
of operations and facilities. "If it goes down, the people
are irate."
Clarian is inventive in its community
involvement in other ways.
Like a lot of major organizations, Clarian
supports diversity in contracting with goals of 15 percent
minority-business-enterprise and 5 percent women-business-enterprise
participation in part because economic success affects health.
But it was dissatisfied with the impact of diversity goals
on the community.
As a result, Clarian has taken a look
at data on the promotion of minorities and women in majority
companies and those companies' support for mentoring programs,
apprenticeships and scholarships for minorities and women,
in addition to requiring that diversity goals continue being
met, Morris said.
"A lot of contractors say they
can't increase [MBE and WBE] participation because capacity
has been eaten up," he added. "In a lot of cases
it has, but we want to know what else those owners are doing
instead of just walking away."
The company also invests in the community.
Jon Mills, Clarian's public affairs
manager, said the organization invested $380 million in 2005
for various projects, such as charitable care and funds to
assist community groups like the Near North Development Corp.
and Habitat for Humanity.
"Those are things you don't associate
with health care, but the fact is they're inextricably tied
- health care, education and wellness," he added.
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