Since the 1980s, virtually every industry has downsized—except healthcare, which plows ahead like the seemingly invincible Titanic. Now, most industry analysts believe past methods for doing business are crumbling and major changes lie ahead. As past processes and paradigms fall under the critical forces of reform, will sustainable design be thrust aside as a marketing gimmick of the new millennium, or will it play a critical role in healthcare’s renaissance?
As our healthcare clients are exposed to unprecedented change and reform in 2013, they’ve realized there is cost pressure in everything they do. As a result, they’re planning and evaluating all aspects of their operations. This planning should include campus and facility master planning to understand the changing healthcare landscape.
In the healthcare reform era, systems will have to be more efficient, doing more with less, while at the same time caring for more patients. As a result, we’ll see several trends.
Fewer big projects, more incremental growth. In the last two decades, we’ve seen many new campuses and greenfield projects. With future cost constraints, healthcare systems will be more risk averse and return to the facility master plan.
I’ve always been enamored with how a great design solution emerges differently than a good one. The best-of-the-best solutions are often game changers, and the evidence-based design movement has fueled a few in the last decade. Unfortunately, we’re in need of a great design solution right now to assist our clinical colleagues who have sworn to “above all, do no harm” through their Hippocratic Oath.
Industry uncertainty remains in this era of reform and recession, while the demand for healthcare services continues to grow as the population ages and medical advancements prolong life. Consequently, healthcare organizations are faced with a dilemma: how to address the need to expand, improve, and build new facilities in this environment. The answer is found in planning with a different perspective in mind.
"Plastics." That's the word Mr. McGuire tells young Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 film "The Graduate," insisting that there's a "great future in it … think about it."
Today, “nanotechnology” is the new plastics. Along with mobile technology, it’s the future of healthcare—and both are going to change how and where healthcare is delivered.
The goal of Lean design is to eliminate waste. This isn’t a one-time effort, but a never-ending journey of continuous improvement. To determine how the built environment can foster this type of performance and process improvement, you need to identify what waste is and where it occurs.
In “Designing for Daily Life with Dementia,” a Monday morning session at theEnvironments for Aging Conference
The math is simple, says Jane Rohde, principal with JSR Associates: With the one-child rule in place since 1979, China is facing what’s often referred to as the “4-2-1 problem.” Since passage of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 to provide affordable access to healthcare in rural areas, critical access hospitals (CAH) have continued to grow in importance. CAHs fill a unique niche in our national healthcare system. They share traits with larger urban hospitals—and often some resources and clinical expertise—yet they are tailored to their individual markets on a smaller scale. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, food service has the highest energy intensity of any sector, followed by healthcare—a fair incentive for taking a closer look at energy costs related to healthcare food service operations. Healthcare facilities often place their kitchens on the backburner. Even those that can tout overall energy conservation successes voice frustration with their outdated food service equipment and lack of buy-in from leadership on greening the kitchen. Completion date: October 2012
EFA 2013: Resident-Centered Care in China
Critical Access Hospitals: Planning For Rural Healthcare Excellence
Harvard University Teaches Healthcare About Green Kitchen Design
Nemours Children's Hospital: Project Breakdown
