How Baptist Health Care Will Promote Wellness Through New Health Campus

Baptist Health Care CEO Mark Faulkner shares the strategy behind building the organization’s new health campus and how he hopes it will help "promote wellness and impact social determinants of health in a proactive way" for the community.

Baptist Health Care, which serves both Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in the Florida Panhandle, is hoping its new health campus, along with a comprehensive strategic plan, will help make the populations it serves healthier and curb access disparities.

Baptist operates three hospitals, four medical parks, and numerous specialty clinics servicing communities with elevated health risks in northwest Florida and south Alabama.

According to the latest community health needs assessment for Escambia and Santa Rosa, heart disease, diabetes, and lung cancer were listed among the top health concerns for residents.

• In 2016, 7% of people in Santa Rosa and 3.8% of people in Escambia were told they have heart disease, versus 4.7% for the entire state of Florida.
• In 2016, 13.7% of Santa Rosa residents and 16.4% of Escambia residents were told they had diabetes, versus the statewide average of 11.8%.
• From 2015-2017, 44.9 residents per 100,000 in Santa Rosa and 52.8 residents per 100,000 in Escambia were diagnosed with lung cancer, versus 38.6 residents per 100,000 for the entire state.

Mark Faulkner, president and CEO of Baptist, spoke with HealthLeaders about the strategy behind building a new $615 million campus and how he thinks it will "promote wellness and impact social determinants of health in a proactive way" for the community.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

HealthLeaders: What was the strategy behind the decision to build a new health campus?

Faulkner: [Our board of directors and senior management team] recognized that the needs of our community evolved to a point where it was difficult to meet those demands on our current main campus.

[We investigated if we] could do some sort of significant renovation and expansion here on our [current] campus. We concluded that would be an unwise use of resources for our community and that a better strategy would be to simply replace the campus. We went down the pathway of replacing the campus on our existing land, but unfortunately, that was a dead end as well because we don't have [enough] land.

We're embedded in a dense residential part of our community, we're surrounded by homes, and we are landlocked.

We then began exploring how we could remain accessible to the entire community, and in fact, improve accessibility. We went down the strategy of a full replacement and pursued the acquisition of property in a much more accessible and visible location, which we were successful in doing. We think is a win-win all around, in terms of economics and stewardship of limited resources in our community.

HL: When is the new campus slated to open?

Faulkner: We expect to open in the fall of 2023, after approximately three years of construction.

I do think that people might read [this] article and say, 'Who's building a new hospital these days?' There is a uniqueness in our market and our community that led us to this conclusion.

When we were looking at the location of where we were going to build this replacement campus, we engaged an economic development firm. They looked at demographics, rooftops, retail, traffic patterns, and growth areas. They concluded that we moving our campus about 10 miles north of where all the growth is would be the best economic decision.

But this is not just an economic decision, this is a community decision. So, instead, we concluded that we needed to stay close to our current location to meet the needs of our immediate community, while becoming more accessible to the broader community. It was admirable that our senior team and our board drew the conclusion that instead of moving 10 miles north we're moving less than two-and-a-half miles [from the previous campus.]

HL: Can you walk me through the services that the campus is going to offer?

Faulkner: Our goal was to replicate and enhance what we already have in terms of service delivery. [This includes] enhancing our critical care capabilities, efficiencies, nursing units, and capabilities in our ancillary areas like the catherization lab, and imaging pathology, our therapy areas.

We don't anticipate, at least initially, needing to build for additional volume. There won't be any new clinical offerings because we already are a robust campus today. The medical office building will include physician offices, ancillary services, meeting space, and community space.

We are designing this as a health campus not a hospital, and we not only want to have the capability of healing the sick and repairing the injured, but to also promote wellness and impact social determinants of health in a proactive way.

Healthcare is part of community infrastructure, no different than all the other factors that go into community. It's critical for quality of life, economic development, and elevating outcomes. If [healthcare is] set apart and hard to access, then we have fallen short of that goal.

[The new campus] will have a lot of outdoor space and educational space. It will be a healing environment. We are designing this to be much sustainable than our current 70-year-old campus. It will pick up on elements of our community; the deep, rich history of Pensacola, the sugar white beaches, the closeness to nature that we enjoy here. It will look and feel a lot like the elements of our community in a healing in a positive way.

HL: What are you most excited about with this expansion?

Faulkner: My excitement, first and foremost, is for the community. We have great healthcare in a community for our size, but I know what this is going to be for the advancement of health, not just caring for the sick and injured, but also the advancement of wellness and preventative services.

I know this is going to move the needle with health outcomes in our community. Our community doesn't have good overall healthcare outcomes when it comes to national preparedness. We're not a healthy community; this is going to improve that.

We have seen a lot of economic revitalization in our community and with the location that we have selected and are now under construction, this campus will serve as the new front door to our community.

Finally, I know what this means for our employees, team members, physicians, and caregivers. We strive for excellence, it's one of our values, and how we interact with our patients and families, and how we provide care and quality and outcomes. We seek excellence in everything we do. But we have a workforce that comes to work every day in a building that's mediocre at best.

My excitement is for them. That our facilities and our surroundings will finally match our values and our desire to deliver on that promise. And so, I know there's so much excitement among the workforce about how this is going to [enable] their ability to deliver on our mission.

HL: Speaking of the workforce, how have the physicians and medical staff been involved in this project?

Faulkner: We have been engaged in discussions with the specialties that provide care in the hospitals, [including physicians, nurses, caregivers, and other team members.] They have worked with our designers and architects to provide input on layout, schematics, workflow, and all the other elements that go into their daily routines. To this day they are still having opportunities for input, so that the end-product is designed to be efficient, and effective, and meet [their] needs.

HL: Once the new campus is open, what will happen with the old campus?

Faulkner: We have approximately 50 acres on our current campus, and currently it houses administrative functions as well as our clinical services.

Our commitment originally to the community was leave every job we can on our existing campus. Interestingly, two things happened since we made that commitment.

The community came back and said, 'Can we look at reimagining the entire 50 acres for perhaps, including retail, community space, housing, and other purposes?’ So, we have engaged a community advisory council who has been helping us sort through those decisions.

The second thing that happened was the pandemic. We learned that the administrative jobs that are housed on this campus can now perhaps be done elsewhere, including in the home.

We might partner and offer some sort of urgent care services or primary care, but the question about our admin space and functions is still up in the air. We've got time to make that decision, but we are working towards sorting through the options and talking to the community throughout the process.