Anne DiNardo

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is in the business of improving the quality of life for patients with disabilities and their families, through its patient care, teaching, and research programs.

Rehabilitation hospitals have traditionally recognized the therapeutic benefits of nature in the healing process, with facilities located on hilltops or scenic areas that provide views and access to the outdoors.

When Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital built a replacement hospital along the Boston waterfront, the urban site was challenged for space but not for inspiration, thanks to vast views of the harbor, Boston Logan International Airport, and the Boston skyline.

Once a dot on the healthcare landscape, the medical home model is a growing trend in healthcare design. During the session "Transitioning to a Medical Home Model Through Building and Organizational Re-Design," at the Healthcare Design Conference in Orlando this week, attendees got the chance to look at some of the design challenges and solutions associated with this emerging format.

"It's the organizations that can see around the corner that will not only survive but thrive in the future," Kris Krail, senior associate, NBBJ, said during her opening.

Growing up in a family immersed in healthcare, Thomas Goetz says he made the conscious decision to follow a different path, becoming a journalist and serving as executive editor of Wired magazine for several years before his current stint as entrepreneur in residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

A few decades ago, he says he began to see how technology could help improve healthcare. “In the past, technology had always been an expensive burden in the healthcare environment,” he says. “We’re at a different moment right now.”

In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and to share some ideas on the subject.

Here, Mark Herstein, design manager at Tocci Building Companies (Woburn, Mass.), discusses the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on healthcare design and constructing healthier facilities for the future.

1. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The importance of artwork in the healthcare environment and its role in the healing process has become more widely accepted over the years. But that still doesn’t mean it’s always part of early design discussions.

Rather, art programs are often addressed later on in the project schedule, maybe even after the drywall is up, leaving art consultants and interior designers to scramble to find appropriate pieces that fit on existing walls and ceilings.

Sight and touch are the senses most obviously affected by the built environment, and in a healthcare setting, what you hear and smell are also important factors that can’t be ignored. Masking efforts are one way to go. In some case, you can take a more active approach.

For decades, Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.) had been serving the metro Portland, Ore., area through its Sunnyside Hospital on the southeast side of town, and several medical office buildings (MOBs) on the west side, including Sunset Medical Center. But as the population began to grow, the organization set out to build a new hospital on the existing Sunset MOB property in Hillsboro, Ore., to help it further serve this expanding community.

In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.