At the last medical real estate conference I attended the notion of making a hospital adaptable for new technology and space requirements was a recurring phrase from the major health systems’ vice presidents of real estate in attendance. They didn’t want a “shell” for a building, but rather a system that could be flexible and accommodate multiple types of equipment needs.
A financial goal of every hospital is to stay profitable and often on a tight budget. This is why space management is crucial: making a seamless transition from initial room and department design to future flexible designs.
Lesson 1: Making Current Space Adaptable for Future Needs
While a very focused design serves well for the short term, an adaptable space plays well for the long term. Creating optimal medical office building flexibility should be on the mind of every hospital leader. This can be done with evidence-based designs or through developing innovative ways to manage and care for space requirements. With wireless technologies merging with design layout, having the hospitals IT group involved in the design process could prove useful.
Lesson 2: Thinking for the Future Now
When a hospital was drawing up plans for new patient rooms, they had a different initial idea than what they knew the rooms’ roles would be down the road. That is why they increased the rooms’ infrastructure, gas and vacuum capacity for additional power, data, and equipment upgrades when the rooms would convert to intensive care unit (ICU) purposes. By implementing this concept early in the design process costs were a fraction of what they would have been to convert the rooms after build out. Also, by implementing conversion features now, there is no downtime, loss in revenue, or disruption in department operations as a future conversion may have led to.
Lesson 3: Utilizing All Your Space
Saint Luke executives needed a temporary location until their medical office building for administration was completed. Saint Luke’s Hospital at the Vintage had been recently built and since the hospital didn’t have to use all patient beds, they used a wing to house the administration office. This proved invaluable as administrative staff saw first hand how the hospital ran itself and increased their understanding of workflow and operations.
Too many times hospitals are designed around an idealistic picture while it should be around stringent flow, function, and cost. Ask yourself what future uses could this room have and adjust the best way you see fit to maximize versatility.
James Ellis, CEO, Health Care Realty Development Company, is a nationally recognized successful real estate investor and developer of medical office properties with a comprehensive knowledge of sophisticated real estate transactions, cost effective designs, and efficient property management.
Aaron Razavi is Associate Marketing Director at Health Care Realty Development.
Visit their blog at http://www.hcrealty.com/medicalrealestatedevelopment/