Press Releases
NEW YORK, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Questions linger about how major changes to Medicare, such as the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA), will impact the U.S. healthcare system and, in turn, hospital design. A core tenet of PPACA is accountable care, a topic whose goals will be greatly impacted and ultimately defined by healthcare design.
The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation (http://mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org) and HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm, unveiled a new policy paper examining the impact of healthcare design on accountable care goals. "Accountable Design for Accountable Care" examines healthcare in the United States and the context for PPACA, illustrates how healthcare design impacts accountable care aims, and investigates immediate actions that can be taken to integrate design research into improving healthcare facility design and patient care.
"Under PPACA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will shift emphasis from quantity of services to quality of services," said the policy paper's lead author, Nicholas Watkins Ph.D., HOK's director of research and a firm-wide knowledge specialist. "'Accountable Design for Accountable Care' focuses on the potential to improve quality by focusing on the intersection between process and place."
The paper illustrates healthcare design's impact on the goals of accountable care through case studies from design research of hospital inpatient units. Unit configurations and layouts are examined, taking into account such variables as staff travel distances, visibility/communication, and proximities/room distance. The report also discusses innovations including decentralized nursing stations and family-centered care, which works alliances among patients, clinicians, and family members.
The paper recommends two immediate actions that can be taken. First, occupancy evaluations can be performed before and after users move into a new or renovated facility, so that results from the pre-occupancy evaluation can be compared to results from the post-occupancy evaluation, thereby determining improvements or decrements, their ranges and causes. Second, the paper determines that the industry needs incentives and requirements for credible design research during building project delivery, such as the program currently in development by the Environmental Design Research Association.
Authors of the Accountable Design for Accountable Care white paper are lead author Watkins; Julie Zook, Ph.D. Candidate, and analyst, HOK; Whitney Austin Gray Ph.D., Cannon Design's health practice research director and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies; Richard Saravay, principal-in-charge for the Harlem Hospital Center's new Mural Pavilion, HOK; Erin Peavey, M. Arch, Assoc. AIA, researcher and medical planner, HOK; Tim Gorton, B.S., M.P.A., with over 10 years of experience in healthcare administration; and Derrek Clarke, AIA, LEED BD+C, registered architect with HOK's healthcare practice.
To download a copy of "Accountable Design for Accountable Care," visit http://bit.ly/VvKUSN.
About The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation
The Foundation was established with the support of The McGraw-Hill Companies and is a Section 501(c)(3) organization. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org.
Contact: Katherine Malangone
212-904-4376
kathy_malangone@mcgraw-hill.com
SOURCE The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation
SOURCE: The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation
New McGraw-Hill Research Foundation Policy Paper Examines Accountable Healthcare Design for Accountable Care
PR Newswire
NEW YORK, March 4, 2013
NEW YORK, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Questions linger about how major changes to Medicare, such as the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA), will impact the U.S. healthcare system and, in turn, hospital design. A core tenet of PPACA is accountable care, a topic whose goals will be greatly impacted and ultimately defined by healthcare design.
The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation (http://mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org) and HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm, unveiled a new policy paper examining the impact of healthcare design on accountable care goals. "Accountable Design for Accountable Care" examines healthcare in the United States and the context for PPACA, illustrates how healthcare design impacts accountable care aims, and investigates immediate actions that can be taken to integrate design research into improving healthcare facility design and patient care.
"Under PPACA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will shift emphasis from quantity of services to quality of services," said the policy paper's lead author, Nicholas Watkins Ph.D., HOK's director of research and a firm-wide knowledge specialist. "'Accountable Design for Accountable Care' focuses on the potential to improve quality by focusing on the intersection between process and place."
The paper illustrates healthcare design's impact on the goals of accountable care through case studies from design research of hospital inpatient units. Unit configurations and layouts are examined, taking into account such variables as staff travel distances, visibility/communication, and proximities/room distance. The report also discusses innovations including decentralized nursing stations and family-centered care, which works alliances among patients, clinicians, and family members.
The paper recommends two immediate actions that can be taken. First, occupancy evaluations can be performed before and after users move into a new or renovated facility, so that results from the pre-occupancy evaluation can be compared to results from the post-occupancy evaluation, thereby determining improvements or decrements, their ranges and causes. Second, the paper determines that the industry needs incentives and requirements for credible design research during building project delivery, such as the program currently in development by the Environmental Design Research Association.
Authors of the Accountable Design for Accountable Care white paper are lead author Watkins; Julie Zook, Ph.D. Candidate, and analyst, HOK; Whitney Austin Gray Ph.D., Cannon Design's health practice research director and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies; Richard Saravay, principal-in-charge for the Harlem Hospital Center's new Mural Pavilion, HOK; Erin Peavey, M. Arch, Assoc. AIA, researcher and medical planner, HOK; Tim Gorton, B.S., M.P.A., with over 10 years of experience in healthcare administration; and Derrek Clarke, AIA, LEED BD+C, registered architect with HOK's healthcare practice.
To download a copy of "Accountable Design for Accountable Care," visit http://bit.ly/VvKUSN.
About The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation
The Foundation was established with the support of The McGraw-Hill Companies and is a Section 501(c)(3) organization. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org.
Contact: Katherine Malangone
212-904-4376
kathy_malangone@mcgraw-hill.com
SOURCE The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation
