Emerging Challenges and Opportunities Reshaping Healthcare Design

(11/25/2024)

The healthcare industry is increasingly complex, volatile, and ambiguous. As conditions shift, so do challenges and opportunities in healthcare design. On October 29, 2024, The Center for Health Design hosted an expert panel to discuss market shifts affecting the built environment.

The healthcare industry is increasingly complex, volatile, and ambiguous. As conditions shift, so do challenges and opportunities in healthcare design. On October 29, 2024, The Center for Health Design hosted an expert panel to discuss market shifts affecting the built environment.
 
The event, titled “The State of the Healthcare Design Industry: Perspectives on Resilience in Healthcare,” had four learning objectives:

• Identifying and mitigating threats to the built environment in healthcare
• Developing adaptable designs for evolving care needs and settings
• Addressing climate change through sustainable healthcare design
• Examining successful resilience programs and use cases

Mike Wood, Vice President, Planning, Design, Construction, and Energy at Medxcel, was one of the featured panelists, also representing the Association of Medical Facility Professionals (AMFP) at the event. We sat down with Mike as he reflected on his impressions and takeaways from the discussion. 

Trending Shifts Point to Growing Resiliency Focus in Healthcare Design    

Healthcare leaders are navigating considerable change brought on by technology, AI, and cost factors impacting patient outcomes, Mike shares. In response, traditional design practices are being revised to reflect these factors, which are increasingly delivered in an ambulatory setting.
 
Though change often requires new skills and approaches, Mike’s view of the future is optimistic. “As a connected society growing more mindful of our need to utilize resources more efficiently, the ‘Resiliency Factor’ is beginning to take center stage in concert with the other factors I’ve mentioned,” he says.

Making the Business Case for Sustainable Design    

Throughout his experience at Medxcel and AMFP, Mike notes a growing focus on decarbonization and sustainability, spurring financial discussions. At the same time, the concept of consumer experience that’s long been revered in other industries is now taking root in healthcare. “We’re at a turning point where we have to respond to all of these factors differently, doing the research and making the business and financial case for sustainability,” Mike shares.
 
Mike acknowledges a constant tension among healthcare stakeholders about how to best achieve their shared mission. “The tension is: If you don’t have a business, you don’t have a way to deliver the mission. If we can’t build a strong business case for our proposed design, we’re not going to be able to carry out the mission,” he explains. 
 
Balancing that tension requires healthcare design professionals to be mindful that we’re all stewards of a common purpose, and to articulate how design helps to advance that purpose. “You have to learn the language of business and finance, and translate that back to evidence-based design,” he adds.

Elevating User Experiences  

In healthcare design, we often think of the impact of the built environment on patients—as we should. Panelists pointed out that the experiences of clinicians and other support staff in a healthcare facility also impact the quality of operations, financial performance, and patient outcomes and perceptions. 
 
Mike recalls the early days of the pandemic when workers in healthcare were under monumental pressure. Medxcel teams provided respite rooms across their client portfolio within the first 60 days of the pandemic. When clinicians, caregivers and support staff needed a moment to decompress and recharge, they’d go into these respite rooms for a few minutes, then return to their work. 
 
Put simply, you can’t have exceptional patient experiences while delivering sub-par staff experiences. “The correlations between staff or caregiver experience and patient experience are undeniable,” Mike explains: “I’m data-driven, and when I talk to finance people, I tell them the same thing. If we can improve staff experience, that can improve your bottom line.”

The New Elements of High-Performance Healthcare Design  

Looking ahead, Mike notes that research, sustainability, and resiliency are now primary factors in the work of healthcare design. As an example, he points to Medxcel’s installation of the third sustainable microgrid in a healthcare acute care setting in the U.S., in partnership with a client health system. To be clear, a microgrid is a self-contained system that can generate and distribute electricity to a localized group of buildings—essentially a backup power system, with the added benefits of sustainability via renewable sources and potential cost savings. “We’re taking today’s technology and bringing it forward for the benefit of the communities we serve,” Mike reasons.
 
Another factor becoming more integrated in healthcare design is the adoption of prefabricated and modular construction. Mike argues that the potential benefits, savings, efficiencies, and speed-to-market stemming from prefabrication and modularity will change the way we design and construct in healthcare. 
 
Altogether, these trending shifts represent a pivotal point in healthcare design, Mike concludes: “I’m excited to be a small voice in this chorus as we come together to bring dramatic changes to our industry.”