What should you be expecting once you’ve had all your plans approved for construction on your healthcare project? Leave that to our team! Hallsta will support you and your team every step of the way. Once you have your notice to start construction and concurrent with procuring your building permit, the path includes a few important steps, which Hallsta is experienced in organizing for you – namely, clearing your TIO.

But what is the TIO? TIO refers to the Testing Inspection and Observation Program enforced by California’s Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) for all building projects within the HCAI umbrella. The TIO includes tests and inspections carried out by contractors, HCAI-certified inspectors, special inspectors, and other third-party inspection agencies. The task now is to assign responsible firms and individuals, collect sample reports for all tests and inspections, obtain inspectors’ and agencies’ certifications and licenses, and present them to the design team and finally to the HCAI field staff.

So you have determined your contractor, you know what Inspector of Record you’ll be using on the project, you have approved construction documents, have obtained your permit, and your TIO is cleared. Concurrent with obtaining the HCAI permit is preparing an ICRA/PCRA (Infection Control Risk Assessment / Pre-Construction Risk Assessment) and the ILSM (Interim Life Safety Measures), all crucial to every healthcare construction project.

The ICRA addresses the environment of patient care, the measures that need to be put in place, and the contractor’s responsibilities for ensuring patients are safe, including the noise level, air quality, utility impact and/or disruption, and infection control. During construction, it is important to address all these issues of impact so as to be attentive to patient satisfaction (HCAHPS scores) and the safety of patients, contractors, visitors, and hospital personnel.

The ILSM is your look into any fire systems and life safety measures that may be disrupted during construction. If the project will block a corridor or several corridors, the ILSM will ensure that the necessary mitigation measures are in place to maintain compliance with safety codes.

Finally, before you’re able to kick off construction, you’ll need to post just a few items at the job site to complete all preceding steps. Those items include your building permit, your ICRA, and your ILSM. You’ve been through quite a few stages and measures to get here together with us, but the work has only just begun. Now that we have all our necessary items posted at the job site, let’s get started on the building portion of the project!

For what comes next in the project life cycle of a healthcare facility construction project, stay tuned for updates on our blog and on our social media.