2015 HEALTHCARE DESIGN EXPO & CONFERENCE: A SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS

Jennifer M. Petrelli, SM, MPH, Nutritional Epidemiologist, Sodexo

This paper provides a summary of the key take-aways and messages presented in the 2015 Healthcare

Design Expo & Conference, the most comprehensive conference in the industry. From November

14-17 in Washington, D.C., the Conference brought thousands together for sessions of learning and

engagement. Speakers and audience members consisted of experts in architecture, interior design,

facilities management, academia and clinical care, along with product developers and service providers.

The educational content provided at the Conference was both varied and informative.

The overarching theme to emerge from the Conference is that the future of healthcare is not necessarily

in the acute care environment. Many of the design and facility-related sessions and interactive tracks

revolved around the expansion of population-based care in the outpatient setting. Hospitals are no longer

single facilities, but rather systems. Therefore, a comprehensive strategy for population health will

incorporate both on-campus and off-campus facility solutions.

A central question posed continually was: How do we create infrastructure, population-based health

approaches, and healthy neighborhoods that are adaptable and will not be obsolete in three to five or

even 10 years?

From the information presented and discussed at interactive sessions, three important areas will have

increasing relevance as healthcare organizations ramp up efforts to deploy evidence-based design,

patient-centered solutions and population health strategies:

Master planning in the era of population health, which requires new thinking about accessible services outside the acute care setting

The Population-based Patient Unit, a new proposed care model, which utilizes technology to give patients the appropriate level of care

Thoughtful & empathetic design that can improve the patient experience

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Master Planning in the Era of Population Health

Fee-for-service is steadily giving way to population health payment models requiring a greater emphasis

on clinical integration and business intelligence. The future of healthcare is not in the acute care

environment. Accessible services outside the hospital will take on greater importance.

Some of the questions to be asked include:

How does a shift toward wellness impact building plans?

What does it mean for inpatient units?

How can wellness be integrated into the business model?

Discussion in this realm revolves around what key tools, assumptions and analysis are required for master

planning for a population-based health system.

Another important topic to consider is the impact of consumerism on healthcare and patient

experience. When people are required to pay more out-of-pocket, they also demand more of their

purchased services. Simultaneously, healthcare consumers are being indoctrinated with the retail

experience. They are demanding convenience and care that mimic their experience in retail and

hospitality environments. How can facilities help bridge the gap between healthcare and retail? There

is wide consensus that patient experience is no longer just about Press Ganey and HCAHPS surveys.

Accordingly, the master planning process must be adapted to better incorporate patient consumerism

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and experience.

The Population-based Patient Unit: A Vision for the Future of Care Delivery

A key session proposed a new model of value-based care for chronic care patients: an integrated care

continuum that bridges all venues of care (acute, sub-acute, community). Disruptive innovation from

other industries that have undergone changes in service delivery and special needs, such as banking,

can hold valuable lessons and inform the development of a population-based patient unit (PBPU). In

this model, understanding the common needs of certain populations, such as socioeconomic issues and

access to healthcare, provides opportunities to increase wellness and quality of life.

At the core of the PBPU model is providing patients with the appropriate level of care for their condition

by bypassing the emergency department and relying on the Electronic Health Record. Key elements of

this approach are telehealth, health data and electronic health record (EHR).

For example, a wrist device can transmit health data via wireless telehealth technology to a patients

EHR. Consider, the experience of a fictitious 84-year-old female patient with a history of heart failure.

This patients vital signs were monitored via a wrist device as part of the hospitals PBPU. The wrist

device uploaded health data to the patients EHR. The PBPUs care coordinator reviewed and monitored

the patients EHR. When the care coordinator noted a decline in vital signs, a telehealth visit with a care

provider was initiated by the PBPU with the patient and her family members. The patient was directed not

to the emergency room, but to the hospitals PBPU, where she was observed and decisions were made to

move her to the next level of appropriate care.

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Improving the Patient and Family Experience Can You Feel What I Feel?

Empathy is a key concept of quality of design thinking and human-centered design. Through empathetic

design, designers attempt to get closer to the lives and experiences of users in order to increase the

likelihood that the product or service designed meets the end-users needs.

In the healthcare space, designers are now asking themselves questions such as What are the most

important spaces for empathy? They are thinking from the perspective of staff and patients and asking

themselves, If you can see what they see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel: would that impact

your design? And How can space support not only patients, but also caregivers? For example, how

could space best be designed to consider staff needs, including how they do their job, equipment that is

needed, how they can better attend to the patient and where they can go for respite?

Related to this is the idea of empowerment zones. Private places mixed with public spaces can provide

a patient with opportunities for choice and control, so that rather than being limited by their experience,

patients can become empowered.

Human-centered design is a challenge to all. Hospitals are no longer single facilities but systems. As a

result, there is an increased need for continuity of patient experience throughout all of the different touch

points on the continuum of care. Designers are getting involved in order to develop seamless solutions for

caregivers and patients.

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Conclusion

The 2015 Healthcare Design Expo & Conference focused on several key themes pertaining to the rapid

changes taking place within the healthcare industry. Designing in an era that emphasizes wellness and

prevention over treatment requires new thinking about master planning and what creates a positive

patient experience. Understanding the common needs of a population, deploying technology and utilizing

data provide opportunities to increase wellness and deliver appropriate care to chronic patients in

unprecedented scales. And healthcare designers are beginning to look at design challenges from both a

patient and caregiver perspective, thereby learning to address empathy as a quality of design thinking. A

healthcare organization and its built environment can be designed to best respond to the human side of

healthcare. Collectively, these concepts represent the evolution of a traditional process that has been a

mainstay of the healthcare industry for decades.

Educational events like HCD are an incredible vehicle for making sure we keep current with industry

knowledge in the rapidly evolving healthcare arena.

The next Healthcare Design Expo & Conference will be held November 12-15, 2016, in Houston, Texas.

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Additional Resources

Healthcare Design Expo & Conference Website: www.hcdconference.com

Sodexo White Papers:

New Challenges Facing the Hospital C-Suite http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/1e16c929#/1e16c929/1

Ambulatory Networks: The Power of Technology http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/082d4227#/082d4227/2

Overview of Patient Experience: Definitions and Measurement Tools http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/136afa68#/136afa68/1

Understanding and Managing Patient Fear in the Hospital Setting http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/0351c0e8#/0351c0e8/1

Additional white papers can be found on Sodexos Thought Leadership Library:

bit.ly/sodexothoughtleadership

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As part of Sodexos commitment to creating a better tomorrow through sustainable, green initiatives, this document has been printed on paper containing 20% post-consumer recycled content.

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