The HCD 10: David Grandy, Rising Star (Under 40)

David Grandy, FACHE, CMPE
Associate vice president and managing director of strategic innovation, HDR (Omaha, Neb.)

Who he is: Grandy’s career has involved work on five continents and such high-profile clients as Kaiser Permanente, GE, and the Ministry of Health for the countries of Jordan and Trinidad and Tobago—and that’s all before he turns 40 this year. His career started in 1997 at the former Alegent Health (Omaha, Neb.), where he held multiple leadership positions before moving to management consulting firm The Lifeworks Healthcare Group (Omaha). He was then a consultant for Orthopaedic Advantage (Omaha) for two years before joining HDR in 2008. Based at HDR’s Omaha office, he spends 90 percent of the year working in L.A. and Chicago, focusing on integrating human-centered design and strategy to help healthcare organizations evolve their business. In addition, he’s served as a consultant for Presence Health (Chicago), MD Anderson (Houston), Advocate Health System (Chicago), and The Marshfield Clinic (Wisconsin).

Year in review: Described as Kaiser Permanente’s “secret weapon” by a senior vice president in strategic planning and new ventures, Grandy has spent the last three years working on a project called Reimagining Ambulatory Design (RAD), which aims to rethink the ambulatory delivery system for the future. Phase 1 of RAD finished in 2013 and included outlining a new service delivery system with five integrated platforms to change the way Kaiser members’ health needs are met. Phase 2, which started in early 2014, focuses on developing and testing those five areas, including two facility solutions: Health Hub (an MOB with new operational models) and BLINK (a neighborhood clinic that handles everyday health needs). Grandy and his team created three Health Hub mock-ups in 2014 (see Photo Gallery), from low-fidelity to highly finished, and some of the design features are now being implemented in current Kaiser projects. For BLINK, he’s turning his eye to creating a retail component for the clinic, with design concepts set to be created in 2015. He also served as a strategic innovation designer on The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, which is scheduled to open in 2017.

What’s next: The year promises more travel time for Grandy as he continues to work on Kaiser’s RAD project and help the organization implement a new ambulatory care strategy. He’s also partnering with the American Medical Association to design a model of the physician practice of the future as well as teaming up with the Society for Healthcare Strategy, Marketing, and Development (a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association) to further develop its work on the future of healthcare strategy.

The HCD 10:

  • Architect: Paul Strohm, senior vice president and director of healthcare, HOK (St. Louis)
  • Researcher: Upali Nanda, vice president and director of research, HKS (Houston); executive director of the Center for Advanced Design Research and Education (CADRE)
  • Interior designer: Christine Hester Devens, associate principal and interior project designer, AECOM (Minneapolis)
  • Association/foundation executive: Jennie Evans, 2013-2014 president, Nursing Institute of Healthcare Design (NIHD)
  • Facility manager: Sean Gouvin, director of facilities planning and engineering operations, Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.)
  • Educator: George Mann, Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA, Endowed Professor of Health Facilities Design, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas)
  • Provider: Matthew Gutwein, president and CEO, Health & Hospital Corp. of Marion County, and Dr. Lisa E. Harris, CEO, Eskenazi Health (Indianapolis)
  • Building professional: Sam Moses, superintendent, Balfour Beatty Construction (Dallas)
  • Rising star: David Grandy, associate vice president and managing director of strategic innovation, HDR (Omaha, Neb.)
  • Organization of the year: ZGF Architects LLP