The July issue of Building Design and Construction magazine includes a new list of architects, engineers, and contractors, ranked in order of the total number of LEED accredited staff members. TRO JungBrannen is ranked #66, with 102 LEED accredited professionals (APs).
Like most such lists, this one requires some examination. First, the firms with the most personnel will obviously dominate the ranking, even though they may be only marginally committed to sustainable design and construction. Second, the list was based on data assembled several weeks ago, and reflected our staffing as of April 24. Today we have 119 LEED APs, with more expected shortly. Finally, this list compares apples, oranges, and pears in the sense that architects are mixed in with contractors and engineering firms. For example, I see little value in comparing ourselves to an engineering giant like AECOM Technology Corporation, ranked #7, with 413 LEED APs. As noted above, that sounds good until you realize that the figure of 413 represents less than 1% of their total staff of 43,000. Similarly, URS Corporation has over 51,000 employees, but less than ½ of 1% are LEED accredited. By comparison, TRO Jung|Brannen now has 50% of our total staff accredited, and nearly two-thirds of our professional staff – a distinction held by only six other firms on the list of two hundred!
While this list certainly has value and is well-intentioned, I believe that it would be more useful, for example, if architects were compared only to other architects; and, the ranking would have been more meaningful if it were based on the percentage of LEED APs to overall staff – a better reflection of a firm’s sustainable design commitment. Viewed from this perspective, It is noteworthy that TRO Jung|Brannen now appears to have the highest number of LEED APs of all New England architectural, interior design, and engineering firms who have their headquarters in Boston; and, we enjoy one of the highest ratios of LEED APs to total staff when compared to the other large design firms throughout the country.
I am enormously proud of our leadership position in sustainable design and look forward to fulfilling our internal goal of 100% LEED accreditation for all of our professional staff.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Healthcare and Tort Reform
For those of us who remember HillaryCare in 1993, it was a bitter pill for the design and construction industry to swallow.
To refresh your memory, shortly after Bill Clinton was sworn in as President in 1993, he asked his wife to lead a task force charged with overhauling the nation’s healthcare insurance system. The goal was to provide universal healthcare to all Americans. He recognized that the spiraling costs of healthcare were unsustainable and compromised our economic prosperity.
During the months of debate that followed, the healthcare industry held its collective breath, anticipating draconian legislative reforms. Institutions were hesitant to commit funds to upgrade their facilities and the healthcare design industry was “on hold” for more than a year and a half. In the end, despite the administration’s good intentions, the bipartisan compromise bill went down to defeat in September, 1994, and things largely returned to the status quo. Not surprisingly, healthcare costs for the average American have continued to rise ever since.
Fast forward to today. President Obama recently made a pledge eerily similar to President Clinton’s. This time around, two things concern me: First, I hope that the political debate is brief and that the bill is enacted promptly so our industry does not suffer unnecessarily. Second, I hope that Obama’s healthcare reform has at its core one essential ingredient that Clinton was unable, or perhaps unwilling, to deliver – tort reform. Now, I am not suggesting that tort reform alone will cure our healthcare ills. Rationing end of life care, controlling obesity, promoting wellness, and eliminating unnecessary paperwork and inefficiencies may all contribute more to healthcare’s bottom line than tort reform. But, I believe that tort reform will have a more beneficial ripple effect throughout our entire economy.
There are several components of tort reform that merit consideration: the elimination of contingent fees, capping damage awards, and my personal favorite – the “loser pays” system – from English law. I believe that if just these three reforms were adopted, malpractice insurance costs would drop, frivolous lawsuits would decline, and physicians would be less likely to insist on expensive diagnostics of questionable medical merit.
Healthcare reform without tort reform just won’t be easy for me to swallow!
To refresh your memory, shortly after Bill Clinton was sworn in as President in 1993, he asked his wife to lead a task force charged with overhauling the nation’s healthcare insurance system. The goal was to provide universal healthcare to all Americans. He recognized that the spiraling costs of healthcare were unsustainable and compromised our economic prosperity.
During the months of debate that followed, the healthcare industry held its collective breath, anticipating draconian legislative reforms. Institutions were hesitant to commit funds to upgrade their facilities and the healthcare design industry was “on hold” for more than a year and a half. In the end, despite the administration’s good intentions, the bipartisan compromise bill went down to defeat in September, 1994, and things largely returned to the status quo. Not surprisingly, healthcare costs for the average American have continued to rise ever since.
Fast forward to today. President Obama recently made a pledge eerily similar to President Clinton’s. This time around, two things concern me: First, I hope that the political debate is brief and that the bill is enacted promptly so our industry does not suffer unnecessarily. Second, I hope that Obama’s healthcare reform has at its core one essential ingredient that Clinton was unable, or perhaps unwilling, to deliver – tort reform. Now, I am not suggesting that tort reform alone will cure our healthcare ills. Rationing end of life care, controlling obesity, promoting wellness, and eliminating unnecessary paperwork and inefficiencies may all contribute more to healthcare’s bottom line than tort reform. But, I believe that tort reform will have a more beneficial ripple effect throughout our entire economy.
There are several components of tort reform that merit consideration: the elimination of contingent fees, capping damage awards, and my personal favorite – the “loser pays” system – from English law. I believe that if just these three reforms were adopted, malpractice insurance costs would drop, frivolous lawsuits would decline, and physicians would be less likely to insist on expensive diagnostics of questionable medical merit.
Healthcare reform without tort reform just won’t be easy for me to swallow!
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