Health Facilities Management: Community Hospitals Offer Unique Advantage

Saint Luke's Health System started building community hospitals so patients with less serious or nonsurgical needs could get faster care more conveniently. In turn, the health system's higher level emergency departments have increased capacity to care for higher-acuity patients who require access to more specialized services, says Jeremy Bechtel, vice president of facilities and construction for Saint Luke's Health System.

To keep construction costs down and for operational efficiencies, Bechtel says all of the health system's community hospitals have the same design and layout. They are primarily identical, other than meeting specific site requirements," he says. This has resulted in other benefits as well, such as staff who rotate being able to easily navigate them. This, in turn, results in faster patient flow and care.

Read the full Health Facilities Management Magazine article.