Which Values Should Guide Health Care Organizations' Retrofit Expenditures on Patient-Centered and Evidence-Based...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Design
• Health Outcomes Research
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Built environments in healthcare can be designed using evidence-based design (EBD) to improve patient health outcomes.
• Capital expenditure decisions for facility retrofits often overlook long-term benefits, treating improvements as sunk costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the ethical values that should guide capital expenditure decisions for healthcare retrofits.
• To reevaluate the assumption that capital improvements are sunk costs.
• To highlight the clinical and ethical relevance of EBD interventions.

Main Methods:

• Case commentary discussing ethical considerations in capital expenditure.
• Reevaluation of financial and ethical value assumptions regarding facility improvements.

Main Results:

• Evidence-based design (EBD) retrofits can be viewed as valuable interventions, not sunk costs.
• Such improvements promote long-term positive patient health outcomes.
• Investing in EBD advances both financial value and ethical considerations for healthcare organizations.

Conclusions:

• Ethical values should guide capital expenditure decisions for healthcare retrofits.
• EBD offers clinically and ethically relevant interventions that enhance patient outcomes and organizational value.