BEST PRACTICES IN HEALTH CARE PLANNING AND ESTIMATING

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Eve Norris, Project Executive

Strategic planners for health care expansion often find themselves in a conundrum – how to plan the program the hospital needs and get an accurate estimate of what it will cost to build it, all BEFORE applying for the Certificate of Need. The scope of the project needs to include all of the necessary health care elements while not giving the staff and potential users unreasonable expectations. So often we see a huge program and a beautiful design that staff is thrilled with, but the cost comes in too late and too high.

This process can be mitigated by bringing the design and construction team on board to work with the hospital staff as early as possible. The design team (most often architects with engineering support) provides the tools to optimize the clinical space and design an aesthetically-pleasing environment. The construction management team takes the early, preliminary design and estimates the cost to build it, often suggesting value engineering options along the way to save money.

The best way to illustrate the ideal process is with a diagram:

We’ll share examples of these best practices at our panel presentation on Monday, October 4 at 9:30 a.m. at the New England Health Care Engineer’s 2010 Conference.  Please join us at the presentation or stop by our booth anytime.