U.S. healthcare institutions face numerous challenges today, including declining reimbursements, rising costs, and growing demands for services. To better understand these issues and their impact on design and construction trends, Mortenson Construction spoke to healthcare professionals at the Healthcare Design Conference in Nashville, Tenn. More than 300 professionals provided feedback, including healthcare administrators and facilities managers, architects, builders, and suppliers.

The 2012 Mortenson Construction Healthcare Industry Study includes insights and perspectives regarding government program concerns, the importance of lean operations, flexible facility design, project delivery trends, improving patient experience, and evidence-based design.  

Key insights include:

Improving patient experience was rated as the highest operational priority
Healthcare respondents overwhelmingly believe that better facilities will strengthen their institutions
Sixty percent of all healthcare provider respondents said their institutions have taken specific actions to improve their performance in U.S. News & World Report rankings
Nearly all respondents believe there is an urgent need to fix Medicare
Split in their opinions regarding the impact of healthcare legislation, respondents also were split in their support for the legislation

"We are excited to provide our findings to customers and business partners in the hope that they bring a deeper level of understanding regarding current healthcare industry and design trends, and help in their thinking regarding the role facilities play in promoting quality care for patients," said Steve Pekala, manager of market intelligence at Mortenson.

Mortenson regularly conducts industry studies and market research. Other recent Mortenson studies include solar energy, higher education and mission critical industries. Visit mortenson.com to download the 2012 Mortenson Construction Healthcare Industry Study.