Trends in Healthcare

Roger F. Cartwright, AIA

July 10, 2006

 

The following are excerpts from a talk given to a community group on the subject of community hospitals and trends in healthcare.

 

Community Hospitals in Alabama and the U.S.:

 

Let’s take an overview of community hospitals.

 

Community hospitals are at the heart of healthcare.  Hospitals are not just institutions; they are a reflection of the community - its self-image.  Often as one of the community’s largest employers, hospitals are a backbone of the local economy. 

 

Rural hospitals across the country deal with a unique set of challenges in serving the special needs of their communities.  Each situation is different, with different patients suffering from different illnesses, some chronic, some debilitating and some fatal if they don’t have access to timely treatment. 

 

How does a rural hospital deal with each unique situation in a time when resources are scare and specialists practice hundreds of miles away?

 

In March of 2004, 60% of hospitals needed to replace aging facilities and 61% of hospitals cited improving operational efficiency and patient flow as a key factor to keep pace with consumer demands for privacy and family-centered care.

 

Statistics show a growing possibility that a U.S. citizen’s access to healthcare will be threatened by a variety of factors:

§         increasing healthcare costs and premiums

§         greater demand for medical services

§         employee cost-sharing

§         competition for niches

§         low Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rates

§         state budget crises and

§         regional shortages of healthcare providers.

 

The elderly, poor, uninsured, under-served and those living in rural areas will be particularly vulnerable to decreasing availability of healthcare resources.

 

Increasing patient interest and physician caution will continue to characterize communication with patients and providers.  There is increasing activity of patients coordinating their own care.

 

The good news is that with careful planning, many communities are effectively addressing these issues and providing a much higher level of healthcare than was available. 

 

Trends in Healthcare

 

What are some of the key trends in healthcare today?

 

Two powerful forces will transform every aspect of delivering healthcare.

 

(1) The first, the mass aging of our society may be the defining evolutionary event of the last 100 years. In 2006, the first of America’s 80 million Baby Boomers, comprising about 30% of the U.S. population begin to turn 60 at the rate of 10,000 per day. Healthcare is unprepared to care for a mass population of older people. The first wave of Baby Boomers will approach retirement age in 2011. Rather than rely on their families to care for them in retirement, researchers say Baby Boomers will face a new set of challenges in order to stay healthy longer.

 

(2) Simultaneously, the ‘genomics’ revolution has begun. Medicine’s inventory will be filled with a wide range of newly fashioned genetic services, many targeted on older, demanding, more affluent consumers seeking health enhancing, and potentially life-extending services.

 

These two factors will reshape hospitals over the next several years.

 

 

Consumerism is the style of the day:

Hospitals are focusing on better food, more creature comforts and better care. Many hospitals lure customers with private rooms and consultation spaces, in-room internet access and plasma-screen televisions.

 

Obesity is a “large” problem:

Half of Americans aged 55-64 have high blood pressure-a major risk factor for heart disease and stoke, and two in five are obese, according to “Health, United States, 2005”, the government’s report to the President and Congress on the health of all Americans.

 

Financial resources are “taxed”:

Healthcare providers are experiencing:
  • Rising liability insurance cost
  • Health insurance changes
  • Increasing investments in medical and information technologies
  • Revenue cuts from Medicare and Medicaid.
  • Increasing levels of uncompensated care, including charity care and underinsured “bad debt”
  • Increased spending on facility replacements and expansions such as:
    • Hotel like hospitality
    • Internet access
    • More private rooms and
    • Environmentally friendly buildings are in demand. 

 

A growing number of hospitals will offer amenities to staff to boost satisfaction and productivity.

Units will improve workflow, necessitated by staffing shortages.

 

New Technology Demands

  • Use of the Internet, PDA’s, and computers for administrative purposes will be commonplace, as well as bar code technology and speech recognition systems.  All of these systems are intended to reduce mistakes.
  • Focus on developing new health information systems to lower cost and improve efficiency.
  • Training staff, productivity loss/disruption and cost of implementation will remain a substantial barrier for small and medium size organizations.

 

There are many issues facing hospitals today. We at Sherlock, Smith and Adams invest our energy providing comprehensive design services to our clients to assist in solving these issues. We thoroughly research the needs of our clients; present innovative solutions based in logic and deliver our promises on time, within budget and with exceptional quality.