Health Care Design Trends

The health care industry is one that changes all of the time. From adding more windows and increasing daylighting in facilities, to changing how floors and rooms are organized, the hospitals and health care centers of today look and feel different than the ones we, or even our parents, are used to.

We asked architects who specialize in the health care industry to tell us about the trends and features they’re seeing in recent projects. They also shared examples of projects that show off the trends they’re discussing. Read on for more on the health care trends currently defining the industry.

Convenience is Key to Community Health

As Day notes, the health care model is moving toward sustaining wellness at every stage in human life. “When wellness is the measure, people favor a personalized approach to care and prevention, and expect it to be addressed in new ways and settings,” she says. “Wellness design today integrates all aspects of our lives and environments to shape healthy experiences and outcomes. As people become more accustomed to and demanding of convenience and flexibility, health care providers are responding by designing spaces tailored to specific services. That dispersion and individualization mean the places where people seek care will likewise become more varied and specific.”

Day uses the term “generative space” to describe the process that guides her team’s work. “It’s about aligning the physical space and the social space to shape healthy experiences and outcomes,” she says. Health care advocate Dr. Wayne Ruga coined the term when hospitals and academic medical centers carried the load of inpatient treatment.

Today, community-based, often outpatient delivery is just as important, Day says. Health care real estate will leverage economic, demographic and ethnographic research to reimagine America’s underused health care facilities, giving them more spaces for community and outpatient care. Distributing health services throughout the community is one way health care providers can increase access for patients and families.

The new, nine-story Central Campus Health Center in Chicago visually communicates the future of accessible, community-provided health care for Cook County Health and Hospitals System. Furthermore, multidisciplinary partnerships are essential in tackling today’s most pressing health issues. Multidisciplinary environments have to be flexible and adaptable, so modularity and transparency are paramount when implemented within the community. These new models of care will drive real estate decisions and design of facilities that promote collaboration and advance the field.

Hospital Consolidation

Jeff Monzu, AIA, NCARB, vice president, senior project manager at LEO A DALY, Omaha, Neb., says the trend of hospital consolidation continues as health systems move more services to the outpatient arena. Combining facilities achieves greater efficiency by reducing the number of empty beds and reducing redundancy of resources in a community. In addition to cutting overhead, consolidations also present an opportunity for health systems to rethink established processes and improve how they operate.

The consolidation of Creighton University Medical Center and School of Medicine and Bergan Mercy Medical Center for CHI Health in Omaha combines a teaching hospital and a private-sector hospital into a new academic medical center. The $160 million project involved the renovation of 300,000 square feet, the construction of a new 140,000-square-foot ambulatory-care center, and the creation of a new home for Creighton University School of Medicine.

Consumerism

According to Wayne Barger, AIA, LEED AP, health practice director, SmithGroup, Dallas, the biggest trend in health care design right now is consumerism. “We are very quickly moving beyond patient-centered to customer-centric, as patients become more empowered,” he says. “Younger generations especially want greater transparency, access and convenience, and a more memorable experience.”

“As health care designers, we have to be just as focused today on the patient and staff experience as the functional clinical aspects, and understanding how the designed experience is linked to recovery as well as workforce engagement,” Barger explains. “What used to be institutional waiting rooms are now more like boutique hotel lobbies or destination retail, with more varied opportunities for education, healthy food, and distraction. There is more technology and digital integration. And there is more of a deliberate connection to outdoor spaces, using design as a wellness intervention (central stairs and walking paths). There is also more a desire for more physical (and virtual) openness and transparency between the community and the hospital or clinic. We’re also paying more attention to staff needs, including more collaborative, team-based and off-stage work areas and amenities. All of these new design strategies are converging around a more brand- and experience-conscious consumer.”

Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR)

AR/VR has made a difference in how easily we are able to communicate design ideas to a client and quickly reach decisions, notes Joshua A. Theodore, ACHE, EDAC, vice president, global health practice leader, LEO A DALY, Dallas. “Designers are trained to think in 3-D; we can look at a drawing and imagine the space. Clients can’t,” he says. “With AR/VR, we can put clinicians directly into the space to walk around, manipulate equipment, and make tweaks in real time. Some clients prefer it to building a mockup room. That’s a half-million dollars that we can put back into the project.”

AR/VR was instrumental in the design of the new landmark outpatient clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Omaha. The project adds 1887,000 square feet of clinical space to the VA campus, offering convenience and an improved patient experience for veterans. The three-level building includes seven primary-care units, an outpatient surgery suite, a women’s health clinic, and a specialty medicine unit, allowing 400 additional outpatients to visit the medical center each day.

Retailization

Jonathan Fliege, AIA, NCARB, director of design, LEO A DALY, Omaha, says the move toward a more wellness-oriented approach to health care delivery has brought about the trend of retailization, where the focus is on creating a seamless experience for patients across physical locations and digital platforms. “A big part of that is creating prototypical clinic facilities that offer a distinctive patient experience, encouraging use and driving loyalty,” he says.

Nebraska Medicine’s Primary Care Clinics exemplify the trend of retailization. The architecture and interior design clarify and differentiate Nebraska Medicine’s brand of ambulatory-care clinic in the regional marketplace through an iconic, economical, repeatable design. Every design element supports a patient experience that is memorable, calming, and highest quality. The initial run includes four site-adapted versions of the prototype, with more planned.

Resimercial

Resimercial describes a commercial space that feels residential. Jennifer Ankerson, senior interior designer, LEO A DALY, Omaha, says they believe health care facilities should feel like home. Waiting areas should feel light and airy, with a clean aesthetic that avoids excess clutter. Furniture should be comfy, arranged to offer patients flexibility of seating options. Those who want privacy should be able to sit alone; those who bring loved ones for emotional support should be able to sit close together in privacy.

At Omaha Face, indirect lighting, accent walls and pendant fixtures provide points of visual interest, and a logo wall reinforcing the client’s brand. Resimercial touches like a polished concrete floor, area rug, and comfy furniture can give a waiting room a stylish, residential feel.

Telehealth

Telehealth allows providers to be in two places at once. As Theodore explains, providers can conduct an exam, talk to patients, families and care-team members, and give specialist consults—all from a remote location. If they are needed in the main hospital, they can beam into the clinic, and vice versa. This gives health systems more efficiency.

“Clinics can increase the number of patients they see in a day, and patients can see a wide variety of different specialists in one visit,” he says. “Telehealth is a game-changer for rural health systems, where recruiting providers is a real challenge. It gives rural patients access to world-class academic medical centers in urban centers without having to travel.”

LEO A DALY has been involved in the design of 50 Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) for The U.S. Veterans Health Administration, each of which include telehealth capability. Some CBOC exam rooms flip between standard and telehealth uses, improving flexibility and efficiency for patient-aligned care teams.

The Patient and Overall Experience

Telemedicine and remote monitoring are among newer technologies being offered by providers for similar reasons, adds Day. “Thanks to its cost- and time-saving potential, and its easier access to health care specialists, large-scale telemedicine facilities are on the rise,” she says. “To work, they will have to enhance interaction and promote human connection.”

With more choices and portals—both virtual and physical—for health systems, Day says the patient experience is more important than ever. “As health systems continue to consolidate, the through line of experience and brand recognition is more critical. For providers, this means prioritizing patient needs and expectations to provide care that is convenient, affordable and customized—both inside and outside the facility walls.”

Day notes that analytics are also playing a larger role in diagnosis, showing likely outcomes and suggesting actions to make providers more successful and responsive to patient needs. “The use of data helps tailor precise paths of care for each individual,” she explains. “As outpatient facilities continue to rise in popularity and patient choice, the nation’s hospitals are under increasing pressure to provide better care outcomes and improve patient satisfaction at a lower price point.”

Brenna Costello, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, principal, health studio leader, SmithGroup, Denver, explains the experience trend was a key driver in the transformation of the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Hospital in Downey, Calif.

“We added a new wellness center that is open to the community, and reconfigured the entire campus into expansive dual-purpose outdoor spaces, featuring interconnected healing gardens and terraces, large plazas, and amphitheaters where there used to be old buildings or concrete parking lots,” she says. “The new buildings are wrapped in a geometric metal scrim that provides shade as well as wayfinding. Conceptually, the entire design references the weaving therapy that became synonymous with Rancho Los Amigos around the turn of the century. The materiality of the exterior, the looping pathways of the gardens and finishes in the interior are a subtle nod to this history, while the new Rancho Los Amigos campus signals to patients, staff and the community a cutting-edge, destination center of wellness.”