Jana Aubert
Program DirectorCambridge CM/UCDHJana Aubert is a Program Director at Cambridge CM, Inc., with over 20 years of experience delivering complex healthcare and academic medical center capital programs. She currently leads major initiatives for UC Davis Health, including a large replacement hospital tower and multiple ambulatory and renovation projects. Jana specializes in owner representation, project governance, and adaptive delivery strategies where patient access, regulatory compliance, and operational continuity are critical. She frequently speaks on progressive healthcare delivery and real-time project adaptation.
E63 – Advocating for End Users in Large Healthcare Capital Programs
Large healthcare capital projects routinely face late-stage user-driven changes that emerge during construction. These changes consume contingency and…Large healthcare capital projects routinely face late-stage user-driven changes that emerge during construction. These changes consume contingency and limit decision-making flexibility at the most expensive phases of delivery. While such requests are…Large healthcare capital projects routinely face late-stage user-driven changes that emerge during construction. These changes consume contingency and limit decision-making flexibility at the most expensive phases of delivery. While such requests are often unavoidable in complex clinical environments, a program-level approach is critical to effectively advocate for the User groups who will ultimately be operating the facility (such as IT, Operati…Large healthcare capital projects routinely face late-stage user-driven changes that emerge during construction. These changes consume contingency and limit decision-making flexibility at the most expensive phases of delivery. While such requests are often unavoidable in complex clinical environments, a program-level approach is critical to effectively advocate for the User groups who will ultimately be operating the facility (such as IT, Operations and Maintenance, Medical Equipment, Operating Rooms, Clinics, Pharmacy, and Imaging). The UC Davis Health California Tower team (a $3.7billion, 375-bed healthcare project) analyzed user-initiated change request data from prior projects (the 48X project and the Folsom Medical Office Building), to identify recurring drivers of late-stage changes and examined how cost impacts varied by project phase. These projects involved similar clinical functions and user groups; thus, the learnings from the programmatic analysis helped the team anticipate future user needs and stay data-driven. These efforts led to the establishment of a triage process for our California Tower project. The Project Change Request (PCR) triage process is designed to initially route user-driven requests through a highly engaged Owner, CM, and user group forum. This approach effectively: a. makes user group involvement structured and predictable, b. helps project teams improve decision turnaround times on high-risk user needs with a rough order magnitude impact evaluation approach that can be presented for executive and governance committee reviews, c. preserves contingency depletion rate by setting annual target thresholds, d. decouples the GC during early evaluation e. keeps GC involvement on an as-needed study basis rather than defaulting to immediate pricing and losing construction momentum. Speakers from UC Davis Health, Cambridge CM, SmithGroup, and McCarthy Building Companies will present on this approach that large healthcare capital programs can undertake to practically leverage historical change data, implement a scalable PCR triage approach, and strengthen user advocacy while maintaining cost and schedule targets. Show MoreClick the title to see all detailsShow More
R05 – Right-Sizing in Real Time: Owner-Led Strategies for Adapting Bed Demand During Active Hospital Tower Construction
Academic medical centers plan replacement hospital towers years in advance, yet patient demand, clinical strategy, and facility aging rarely remain st…Academic medical centers plan replacement hospital towers years in advance, yet patient demand, clinical strategy, and facility aging rarely remain static. When existing buildings must stay operational and patient access cannot be reduced, owners are…Academic medical centers plan replacement hospital towers years in advance, yet patient demand, clinical strategy, and facility aging rarely remain static. When existing buildings must stay operational and patient access cannot be reduced, owners are often faced with the need to reassess inpatient bed demand after design and construction are already underway. This owner-led roundtable convenes an academic health system and its delivery partners t…Academic medical centers plan replacement hospital towers years in advance, yet patient demand, clinical strategy, and facility aging rarely remain static. When existing buildings must stay operational and patient access cannot be reduced, owners are often faced with the need to reassess inpatient bed demand after design and construction are already underway. This owner-led roundtable convenes an academic health system and its delivery partners to explore how revised patient bed studies can be responsibly evaluated—and integrated—during active tower construction. Drawing from real-world experience on a major academic medical center replacement tower, the discussion will examine how owners balance evolving clinical needs, aging infrastructure, regulatory constraints, and capital risk while keeping construction moving. Rather than presenting a single solution, the session will facilitate peer dialogue around decision frameworks, risk transparency, and communication strategies used to align executive leadership, clinical stakeholders, designers, and builders. Participants will engage in candid discussion about tradeoffs, timing, and governance—focused on how to deliver a right-sized hospital that protects patient access today while remaining adaptable for future care models.Show MoreClick the title to see all detailsShow More
