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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
James Mladucky on Flexible Design and Strategic Growth at IU Health
00:20:28
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- [00:02]
A
This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.
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B
This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I am thrilled today to be joined by somebody who's had a fantastic career at the intersection of healthcare design and construction. We're joined today by James Mladecki. James currently serves as the vice president of design and construction at IU Health. IU Health, of course, is one of the great health systems in the country, great academic medical center and a great community system. I know James, you've been there for 10 years. Before that you served in a leadership position in Northwestern Medicine through the time of some of their biggest construction projects. So what a pleasure to visit with you. Can you take a moment and tell us about yourself and your career?
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C
Sure. Happy to Scott, thank you for having me. Really appreciate the opportunity. As you mentioned, I've been on this side of the fence, on the owner's side for a while now, since 2010. That's when I joined Northwestern. I came to iu Health in 2016. Prior to Northwestern though, I was a healthcare planner and architect and principal at both Canada Design and Perkins and will for 30 years, 25 years, something like that, and have a unique background in that also did some facility planning with boutique firm called Space Diagnostics in Madison which became part of KSA Healthcare probably in the mid 2000s. So been on the on the planning and design side of healthcare for my entire career. And so this is a great opportunity at IU Health and one of what I'm happy to share with you, just fantastic.
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B
And talk about in sort of construction and design. It's such a changing time. On one hand you had sort of COVID that changed a little bit about how systems were designed and what they're trying to do. There's also the movement to ambulatory. There's also in a lot of portfolios of hospitals, some very dated hospitals that people have to figure out can they renovate or rebuild. Take a moment on sort of what are some of the trends that you focus the most on and that are most top of mind in your position?
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C
Happy to. Yes. So you know what I would say Is, you're right, the portfolios of healthcare facilities are aging. And IU Health had a similar problem both with Methodist Hospital and University Hospital. And that's why we're combining those two. They're about a mile and a half apart to build a brand new facility, one of the larger ones in the country, frankly. And it brought the University School of Medicine to this campus as well. So now we're really designing, designing a healthcare science campus. But anyway, what, what I would say is flexibility has always been key. And how you adapt a facility to the changing requirements of how we deliver care, how we integrate teaching and research into that care on a daily basis was one of the cornerstones of this project. So the challenge that I was given was how can you design something that will be the least expensive to adapt over its lifetime? So a very tall order. And so we spent quite a bit of time on how a facility is designed and what are the limitations that would allow it to adapt. And so the structural system being probably the primary one. So we thought about that and I can't say this is, this is new to design, but, or at least the thought of how to design a facility. But we, we settled in on a base size that allows for, for either two patient rooms, or it could be that Basize also allows or does allow for one or, or three ambulatory exam rooms, or two imaging rooms. And in fact even wet bench research would fit in that, that, that, that bay. So that allows for that flexibility over time. But then layer in technology and how technology is changing and frankly, the technology changes much faster than we can build a building. So I can't say that building a building has changed much. It takes a certain amount of time to design it, to document it and to actually construct it. And during that time, for instance, we are in what month 40 of a 66 month construction project and we spent probably two, two and a half years before that designing. So during that time frame, a lot can change in technology. So the charge I was given is make sure that you bring in the largest, so to speak, pipe that you can to allow for, you know, those gigabytes to flow and make sure that there's enough power to ensure AI will work in the new building. We're not sure what that technology is going to be or how it's going to evolve, but those are the things that, that flexibility, that adaptability is what we really focused on.
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B
And what does that flexibility, adaptability look like, particularly as we move towards this period of time when there's so much of These new power centers and AI centers. And it seems so complicated to figure out what the power design and the throughput's going to look like. And how do you sort of manage that kind of flexibility with also choosing a direction?
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C
Yeah, that's. And again, that was the challenge. And it's really about the connectivity to the Internet and how much, how many gigabytes you can flow through your system, how you leverage wireless technology and that evolution. But to your point about power, we looked at what a typical academic health center. What is the power per square foot that we would normally see, and we doubled it. So just to make sure that we would have that power. And we work directly with our local utility company to make sure that we actually put in a new switch yard that allows for that. We talked about partnering with them to create a micro grid in the future. We looked at how solar is incorporated into this. Not that that necessarily increases our power to the hospital, but how can we, how can we heat and cool building in different, different ways that can be adapted over time? We, we also looked at geothermal, to be honest with you. But so the, the power grid being the most critical piece of this and then that connect that connectivity back to, to the Internet.
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B
Fascinating. And take a second and sort of, when you look at this year, 2026, you've got such a sprawling portfolio at IU Health. What are you most focused on and excited about it? And maybe you could tell us a little bit about the size of the portfolio and what's included in the in the building portfolio at iu.
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C
Sure. So you know, obviously the project that we, we have going on downtown in Indianapolis, apologize if you hear a helicopter in the background. That's our, our lifeline that's bringing, either bringing or taking someone to the academic health center here. But anyway, this project alone is $4.29 billion. It sits on a 44 acre piece of property. The hospital itself is 2.56 million square feet. Overall. We're building a little over 3.4 of new facilities, including the central utility plant. All of those things. But that, to your point, that's only a part of our portfolio. We are also building a new hospital in Fort Wayne. We're expanding our facilities, a new cancer center in Lafayette and a new hospital in West Lafayette. We're building a new patient tower on our north hospital in Carmel, just north of Indianapolis. And we just opened a new expansion in Fishers at what used to be Saxony Hospital Hospital now is Fisher's community Hospital. New name, same IU Health. So you know, we are probably close to $8 billion in, in construction and in planning over the next five years or so. So very large portfolio, very strong appetite. But we see that as you know, we're the, we're the largest health care provider in the state. We are continuing to grow and expand our reach and we're in demand and we're really focused on making Indiana one of the healthiest states in the country. And so in order to do that, we're, we're looking at how we can best provide for the, the people, the Hoosiers here in our state.
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B
Thank you very, very much. Now, did you grow up in Wisconsin or Indiana or where did you grow up?
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C
I grew up in Wisconsin, so I, so I'm a Badger. Displaced, I guess. But. But yeah, so I've been in Indiana since 2016 and if you become an
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B
Indiana Hoosier fan, particularly with your this year's football season or where do you stand?
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C
Of course, you know, it's an amazing turnaround for having a program that at one point in time was the least winning to being the most winning. And that's, and in some ways that's an analogy to the health of those in Indiana. Right now we're one of the least healthiest states in the country and we're incrementally improving that through, you know, our focus on providing the highest quality care to those who live and work in Indiana. You know, one of the first projects that I was involved with was at Riley Hospital for Children, where we moved the Mother Baby program from Methodist Hospital there. And IU Health made a large investment in neonatologists throughout the state because unfortunately, at that time, Indiana had had the highest mortality rate for infant mortality rate in the country. Now we've changed that and that's improving and continues to improve. And that's part of that investment is bringing those specialists here to this state. That's why we're building this new hospital, because we're looking to attract and retain, frankly, the best and the brightest. And that investment in a facility that really is a tool to provide the best care possible to educate the next generation of healthcare providers and to really partner with the School of Medicine here at Indiana University and find cures
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B
and
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C
explore new ways to provide that care to our patients is, is key. And that's what makes me really proud to be part of this project, is it's that leading edge and that forethought of how can we change that trajectory of health in our state and make it one of the healthiest in the country. We're on that journey.
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B
No, and fantastic. And talk a bit about IU Health because IU Health is a remarkably well run health system. Talk a little bit about IU Health and what brought you there and your pride in how good of leadership there is at IU Health.
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C
Yeah, you know, I, I, I was fortunate enough to have worked with Dennis Murphy, who's the CEO at Northwestern. He was the COO there. And so, so I knew he had a commitment when, when, when IU Health talks about leading the way, creating the healthiest state in the country, exploring new and innovative ways for delivering care. I know those are all things that is near and dear to Dennis heart. And he has brought together a leadership team that's I believe, second to none. And so I'm very proud to be part of that leadership team and changing that trajectory here and partnering with the School of Medicine to do that leading edge research. You know, we have Simon Cancer center, which is one of the comprehensive cancer centers in, in the country. We are leading in neurosciences in Alzheimer's research. You know, we're one of the, I think top, top 10 research on Alzheimer's in the country. We have. So that's an extremely strong program. And we're building our cardiology program now. So those, those are really key. Obviously, you know, Riley Hospital for Children is always been one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country as well. So.
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B
Fantastic. And let me ask you a question. Did you, did you with the Dean Harrison era or the Gary Mecklenburg era at Northwestern or some of both.
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C
So you know, when I was, when I was practicing architecture and planning, Northwestern was, was a client. So I was part of the, the master plan that was finished in 2006 that really expanded the campus, the downtown campus as well as looked at some of the other like Lake Forest and out in DuPage county and some of those other things. So I was familiar and Gary was the CEO at that time, as was, you know, Pete McKenna was the CFO and Dennis was the COO. So Gary had a very strong team with Kathy Murray and others. And so then Dean Harrison, who was he really took over and that's who I worked under while I was there.
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B
Well, fantastic. And talk about this because there must have been education because when you were at Northwestern or working with Northwestern, they made some huge bets. And at the time some of us thought building a billion dollar hospital or multibillion dollar hospital was crazy. And it turned out to be a really good bet and a really smart bet. Any lessons from some of that? That's, that you've then been able to use in the last decade at IU Health.
- [16:59]
C
Yeah, I would say that. Yeah, the, the mistake by the lake. Right. So that was, that was what was coined by one of our competitors, I believe. And it proved not to be a mistake at all, to your point. It just really propelled Northwestern from where they were to where they are today, you know, as one of the honorable hospitals by U.S. news World Report. And yeah, I would say that investment is really what's happening here. We're investing in the future and where we know that academic medicine is going to remain strong. It's something that others. The price of entry to academic medicine is pretty high. And so keeping that, that portfolio strong and keeping the facilities as strong is, is key to. To attracting and retaining the talent that that's out there. So that investment is huge. And I would say one of the things that Carrie Law said is as we were doing that master plan when Blurry Children saw Children's Memorial was thinking about moving to one of the campuses in town. And as we're doing the master plan, that was always in the background and Gary's. And I'll always remember this, his. His advice was, don't worry about what you don't know. Finish your work. When Children's Memorial decides, Lurie Children's decides to come here will adjust. And that's exactly what we. That's exactly what we did. And it's been really good advice. And that's one of the things that I brought. I brought here.
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B
Really remarkable. Now, one more question. You've had this great career, really right in the middle of your passion in a place that's had huge impact over the last several decades and at great systems. Any advice that you would give to emerging leaders trying to have impactful and enjoyable careers?
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C
Yeah, I really probably lead with purpose. You know, really anchor decisions and clear guiding principles and follow your passion. I mean, one of the things that I. To your point, I'm. I mean, I'm really passionate about providing the best care possible. I mean, I'm not a care. I am not a caregiver. However, I can improve the facility that that caregiver provides that care and give that caregiver the best tool possible so that they can provide the best care possible to that patient and make a difference there. And so follow your passion, lead with purpose, anchor your decisions and guiding principles and stay true to those. That's what I would say is my advice to those evolving leaders.
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B
I absolutely love it. James, you've had this magnificent, magnificent leadership career. Just fantastic. James Mladecky, thank you so much for joining us on the Backers Healthcare podcast. What a remarkable career and what remarkable things IU Health is doing. Just fantastic. Thank you.
- [20:24]
C
Thank you very much.