What Really Drives Better Outcomes?

摘要

The hospital industry faces a significant need to reinvest in its physical assets. Many facilities have outlived their useful lives. Based on data reported in the Almanac of Hospital Financial and Operational Indicators, the average age of existing plants has increased 20 percent over the last ten years (Ingenix 2004). Similarly, Solucient recently reported healthcare capital improvement shrinkage from 9 percent to 7.5 percent of operating expenses from 1997 to 2003 (Jaklevic 2004). Many hospital facilities date back to the Hill-Burton era of the 1950s and 1960s. These hospitals have been through many modernization and expansion projects that have resulted in operationally inefficient, unfriendly, and stressful mazes for patients and staff. Over the past decade there has been a trend toward total replacement rather than renovation and addition. These projects recognize existing site/facility limitations and are driven by such factors as a desire to improve market positioning and the ability to take advantage of operational efficiencies. The development of a replacement hospital is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an organization. During the planning process, careful consideration should be given to improving patient outcomes and satisfaction as well as improving operational efficiencies. Merely rebuilding a more modern version of the same hospital will not optimize these objectives.