AHI White Papers Address Critical Issues Affecting Healthcare Facilities

AHI Papers Address Critical Issues Affecting Healthcare Facilities.
Credit: Pixland

Five new white papers addressing some of the most important issues affecting the infrastructure of the nation’s healthcare facilities are available from the National Institute of Building Sciences’s Academy for Healthcare Infrastructure (AHI).

The white papers are the result of five AHI Interdisciplinary Research Teams that set out to identify current best practices; envision the future of the healthcare infrastructure industry; and engage appropriate industry leaders to develop new approaches for solving critical problems. The teams consisted of leaders from the healthcare facilities industry and related subject matter experts, as well as an academician responsible for compiling the data and developing a white paper for publication. Each of the small, focused teams of industry experts committed to envision materially improved approaches to a specific critical industry issue.

The teams and their topics include:

Team 1: Owner Organization for Successful Project Outcomes
Team 1 sought to shed light on the strategies adopted by successful owners and identifies 12 themes that consistently arose from interviews with industry experts. Facilitated by Kirk Hamilton, FAIA, of Texas A&M University and underwritten by Gilbane.

Team 2: Developing a Flexible Healthcare Infrastructure
Team 2 first defined what flexibility means in relation to healthcare infrastructure, and then addressed why flexibility and the ability to accommodate changing needs are important by identifying the forces of change in the industry. Facilitated by David Allison, FAIA of Clemson University and underwritten by Southland Industries.

Team 3: Project Acceleration / Speed to Market Strategies
Team 3 initiated a conversation on how to improve overall healthcare business success by considering project planning, project delivery, risk management, and innovation as an integral part of the industry’s ability to accelerate project development economically. Facilitated by Rebekah Gladson, FAIA, of rggroup global and underwritten by Balfour Beatty.

Team 4: Defining the Next Generation’s Focus
Team 4 shed light on the potential directions of the field in the context of the next generation and provided some guidance to serve as a potential roadmap. Facilitated by Mardelle Shepley, FAIA, of Cornell University and underwritten by Clark Construction.

Team 5: Reducing Capital Costs
Team 5 looked at the nation’s healthcare spending in relation to the rest of the world. Within the U.S., an evolving reimbursement structure, changing technology, funding restrictions, increasing competition and rising customer expectations combine to make improving services while lowering costs—an especially daunting task for healthcare providers. Facilitated by Dennis Bausman, PhD, of Cornell University and underwritten by Jacobs Project Management.

Download all of the white papers here.