In this era of rising costs and decreasing budgets, healthcare facilities are forced to find ways to stay competitive and increase their bottom lines — all while providing excellent patient care and attracting the best staff. Meanwhile, hospitals also face the prospect of accommodating a multitude of baby boomers as they approach an age when they may need long-term care. “Many of today’s hospitals were built in the 1950s and aren’t adequate for the needs of the population now,” says Anjali Joseph, Ph.D., Director of Research at The Center for Health Design (CHD). As a result, new construction and renovation projects have taken off. According to the Healthcare Finance Forum, more than $33 billion will be spent on hospital construction by 2010. Healthcare design is gaining prevalence as hospital administrators realize it can help increase the bottom line by decreasing staff turnover rates, attracting additional patients and reducing medical costs. “There’s nothing more important than design when creating facilities,” says Mike Way, Vice President of Materials Management and Facilities Services at Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich. “It really pays off in a lot of ways.” Organizations like the CHD and the Coalition for Health Environments Research (CHER) are paving the way for healthcare designers to communicate the benefits of design through evidence-based research. The CHD’s Pebble Project — a national partnership with healthcare facilities that are implementing evidence-based design — is proving that healthcare design can make a difference in quality of care and, in turn, overall financial performance.
