December - 2019CONSTRUCTIONTECHREVIEW.COM8IN MYOPINIONWith billions of dollars wasted annually in the healthcare industry, hospital administrators are focusing on identifying ways to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and maximize value. As hospitals and healthcare provid-ers expand to bring services closer to the consumer, the development of new medical facilities presents an opportunity to embrace efficiency throughout the operation. Many hospital systems will look for state-of-the-art technologies to enhance designing and constructing facilities that optimize patient outcomes and satisfaction, as well as staff productivity. One successful method is implementing "lean" design and construction that can be used in conjunction with big data and artificial intelligence. Both technologies will enhance the speed and accuracy of decision-making by hospital owners and the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. The lean process can be applied to everything from the construction supply chain through delivery and project activation. However, the most crucial consideration is designing healthcare facilities that can be easily adapted for capacity, delivery of care, and future technology. Much of today's waste is created when construction and development teams have not fully anticipated the need for future conversion. While still in their infancy, big data and artificial intelligence promise to have a significant impact on cutting construction costs and expediting the delivery of facilities.Big data opens doors for detailed analysis of space utilization. Evaluating patient volume and traffic patterns enable hospital systems to make informed decisions on the number and types of rooms needed, reducing the likelihood that the facility would need to be renovated down the line to accommodate for changes in growth or demographics. Before even beginning construction, big data can be used to study the different orientations of a building and how it impacts lighting to help reduce energy consumption, an improvement that has an immediate impact on the bottom line.The growth of the information we can cull from big data has led to increased use of prefabricated modules in healthcare facilities. Construction companies can analyze data on the project timeline and cost to enable hospital systems to make better decisions on how to build new facilities. They have historically designed a single module for identical spaces that are repeated throughout the facility, like restrooms. Now, however, they can also create a base module that can serve any medical use, including rehabilitation, tertiary care, level 1 trauma, or a suburban micro-hospital. Prefabricated modules can considerably increase the speed to market for a new project, and they also typically reduce the cost for extensive healthcare facilities.BIG DATA, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EASE HEALTHCARE CONSTRUCTION SYMPTOMSBy Lisa Feeley, CSSMBB, Vice President, Transwestern
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