How we think about healthcare is changing. And with barriers being removed, access to preventative care is on the rise. Millions of people will be searching for places to receive this care. Knowing this, hospitals and health systems are transitioning to leaner facilities like ambulatory and outpatient care clinics that can be dispersed throughout the community.
The Rise of Ambulatory & Outpatient Care Centers
Data from the American Hospital Association supports this new facility model. “Outpatient visits rose from nearly 1,700 per 1,000 persons in 1996 to more than 2,000 visits per 1,000 persons in 2009.” Additionally, “research firm IBIS World, New York City, reports there are 29,440 total emergency, outpatient and ambulatory facilities in the United States today. To meet the anticipated demand for more outpatient care, the number of those facilities is projected to grow to about 31,400 by 2018, a 6.7 increase over the next five years.”
Uncertainty Creates the Need for Flexibility
Because this trend is so new, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in how people will use and work in these facilities. Flexibility in design is paramount to making sure the needs of patients and staff will be met today and into the future. Coming up with solutions to add this flexibility to ambulatory and outpatient care clinics is the hurdle that architects and designers face. And it’s where modular interiors make the biggest difference.
Modular interiors are the inside features of a building that are pre-fabricated off-site, instead of built during construction. They can be adapted as the design and construction process is carried out, saving both time and money. And because modular interiors are not built-in to the facility, they can be reconfigured and reused. This also makes them a very sustainable design choice. A health center director quoted in Health Facilities Management agrees with this sentiment stating,
Prefabricated construction achieves the all-important speed-to-market objective by reducing construction time by up to 30 percent, cuts cost and improves quality control. It’s sustainable, too — it nearly eliminates any construction waste because the materials in the units are sized to fit.
Contact Us for More Information on Modular Interiors
We provide modular interiors including walls, workstations, casework, lockers, and storage systems for use in ambulatory and outpatient care centers. To learn more about modular interiors and how you can incorporate them into your design, contact us at 1-800-803-1083 or send us a message.
