By R. Wayne Estopinal

In 2017, your medical center or health system should have a documented healthcare facility growth plan that is strategic, within your financial capacity, allows implementation that is minimally disruptive, produces optimal workplaces, allows incredible square footage efficiency and creates a competitive advantage for your organization. If facilities are to be part of the current and future healthcare delivery solution, healthcare facility growth must be planned through many prioritized influencers and data points.

Growth cannot be arbitrary or haphazard; it must be implemented in a comprehensive manner that is strategic and intelligent from concept to occupancy. Healthcare planning and design must be founded upon proven clinical strategies that optimize every square foot of facilities and every minute of staff time. Anything less is creating inefficiency and reducing productivity, while instilling a culture that is not fully focused upon optimal operations and clinical outcomes.

Indicators that facility growth is implemented via an intelligent growth process involves the following:

• Significant improvement in clinical efficiency and productivity: With departmental net revenues increasing between 10 and 18 percent.

• Measurable improvement in patient satisfaction scores: With upward movement of at least 10 percentiles, dependent upon project scope.

• Recognizable improvement in market share: Increase in market share percentage of at least eight percent, dependent upon project scope.

• Level or declining staffing expenses: Post-project implementation staffing levels and expenses remain level or decline by five percent.

Intelligent growth allows projects to be implemented with strategic speed, as the planning that has occurred provides a guide for the future development of the facility. Strategic speed combines strategic vision with speed to market – allowing your organization to lead innovative delivery strategies and capture market share within a planned growth strategy.

Health system success is dependent upon many factors. Ancillary and patient care facilities can transform wasteful and inefficient facilities into clinically efficient medical centers that offer excellent departmental relationships. As well as immediate access to clinical services, flexible patient care areas, workplace of choice amenities, reduced travel distances for staff, multiple family amenities and excellent financial outcomes.

TEG Architect’s Efficient Design+Productive Care Planning process offers a four-phase process outlined below. 

Efficient Design+Productive Care Planning Process

Phase 1: Gathering

Gathering centers on developing an understanding of the demographic context of the health system, understanding the strategic direction of the market, the system, physician recruiting and baseline departmental data of each department in the medical center or system, depending upon scope of the planning.

Phase 2: Analysis

Analysis involves reviewing the information from the gathering process, evaluating the data, and understanding the financial capacity of the organization. A master plan that doesn’t respond to the financial capabilities of the medical center is useless. Facility solutions must recognize funding sources and return on investments that exist to allow implementation of the various projects identified.

Phase 3: Planning

Planning occurs after contextual input and important data is understood and processed. Data and facility benchmarking is provided to clarify data alignment. Departmental planning calculations are performed and departmental return on investment is created. Departmental space programs are developed and reviewed with stakeholders to confirm clinical re-engineering impact and results.

Phase 4: Visioning

Visioning is the creative portion of the process; conceptual options, project phasing and project implementation timelines are developed and reviewed at multiple stages by stakeholders and leadership teams. TEG utilizes extensive three-dimensional imagery and virtual reality techniques to convey the efficiency and productivity capabilities of each concept. These graphic tools are excellent in creating a collaborative and engaging process for shaping the future of the medical center campus.

The following summarizes the comprehensive goal of TEG’s Efficient Design+Productive Care: TEG seeks to optimize a clinically appropriate, community-strategic, and innovative healthcare delivery vision – now and in the future.

Shaping the Future of Healthcare Delivery

Through extensive evidence-based design efforts, TEG has helped shape the future of how healthcare is delivered. Our clients universally appreciate the firm’s Efficient Design+Productive Care planning strategies and acknowledge the process we use is very valuable in creating healthcare facilities that re-engineer the clinical processes of a medical center.

The process, which includes gathering, analysis, planning and visioning phases, engages all stakeholders in shaping how the future of healthcare will look; now and in the future. Let TEG Architects help shape how your medical center or health system will compete in our ever-changing market and achieve exceptional results at the departmental, hospital and community levels.

Intelligent Growth through Strategic Master Planning

The most valuable outcome of healthcare master planning is the coordination of future facilities that align with the organization’s strategic plan and provide innovative healthcare delivery. TEG’s latest publication explores the intelligent growth strategies and further details this collaborative planning process.

-R. Wayne Estopinal is president of TEG, a leading healthcare architecture and planning firm that serves clients across the nation to strategically align their facilities for future growth.