Healthcare organizations continue to face rising costs for patient care, staffing, services, and construction. As these financial pressures grow, the planning and design of healthcare facilities should respond to more than clinical requirements and aesthetic goals. Projects also need a clear economic foundation that supports funding, construction, and long-term operations.
In an article for Healthcare Design, HMC Architects’ President Kirk Rose, AIA, DBIA, makes the case for a financially driven approach that considers economic sustainability throughout the master planning and design process.
Connecting design to the business case
Healthcare projects can encounter difficulties when design begins before the team understands the organization’s financial model. A proposed facility may satisfy the program but exceed the available investment, delaying approval or preventing the project from moving forward.
A financially driven process begins by identifying the business case, including revenue-generating patient care spaces, anticipated patient throughput, operational costs, and the level of investment the organization can support. Early financial modeling allows project teams to compare options before committing significant time to design.
This approach helps architects develop facilities that meet functional requirements while also serving as strategic financial assets.
Finding value through efficient planning
Greater efficiency does not have to diminish the patient experience. Lean design principles, compact layouts, shared departmental resources, and carefully evaluated net-to-gross ratios can reduce unnecessary square footage while maintaining capacity and quality of care.
At Temecula Valley Hospital in California, HMC used a reduced-circulation plan to eliminate 3,000 square feet from each floor without affecting patient capacity. A universal care unit model also enabled departments to share space, creating a facility that was more economical to build, staff, and operate.
HMC applied additional efficiency strategies at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and Harbor–UCLA Medical Center. “Wedding cake” stacking, which reduces floor plate sizes on successive levels, allowed air-handling equipment to be positioned closer to the spaces it served. Shorter duct runs helped lower mechanical system costs.
Bringing financial expertise into the process
Financially viable healthcare design depends on early and sustained collaboration among architects, healthcare leaders, cost consultants, engineers, contractors, and medical planners. Initial programs and project options can be modeled through spreadsheets before drawing begins, giving decision-makers a clearer understanding of costs and potential returns.
Contractor expertise can also inform procurement, phasing, scheduling, escalation mitigation, and buyout strategies. Together, these perspectives help teams balance capital investment with operational performance and long-term flexibility.
Creating projects that can be built
Patient-centered design, wellness, and hospitality remain essential considerations, but they represent only part of a project’s success. Those priorities should be integrated with business-oriented thinking so that proposed facilities can secure approval, obtain financing, and advance into construction.
By understanding a healthcare organization’s economic realities from the outset, architects can create environments that are both meaningful and feasible. Financially driven design ultimately helps transform good ideas into facilities that get built and serve their communities.
Read the full article in Healthcare Design.
