Planning for the hospital of the future

The trade-offs between quality of care, operational efficiency, convenient patient access, physician productivity, and initial capital costs should be considered in evaluating functional relationships, dedicated versus shared facilities, and the creation of decentralized, satellite services. With rapidly changing technology, new payment initiatives, and uncertainties about various healthcare reform measures, planning for the healthcare campus of the future should involve an integrated process of clinical program planning, operations planning, and facility planning to ensure that new or renovated facilities are both flexible and promote operational efficiency well into the twenty-first century.