"McCarthy has been building healthcare facilities for more than 100 years," commented Michael D. Bolen, chief executive officer and chairman of McCarthy "This survey was designed to assess trends in health care facility change and to better understand the greatest challenges facing U.S. hospitals as they plan for, design and build future hospital projects. The results of this survey provide a snapshot of the top issues healthcare executives faced over the past five years and what they see ahead in the next five."
The survey, facilitated by McCarthy Building Cos., represented respondents represented 31 states.
Respondents were asked to identify the most significant change in the health care industry over the past five years. The most frequently cited responses were: technology (20 percent); reimbursements (18 percent); patient care/delivery (16 percent); regulatory/legislative oversight (14 percent); and cost of construction (8 percent). When asked to rate industry issues on a sliding scale as to their impact on health care construction at their facility over the past five years, respondents identified access to capital (89 percent), industry competition (84 percent), information technology (83 percent), patient satisfaction (80 percent), and insurance/medicare/medicaid (62 percent) as those areas having the greatest impact.
Respondents were then asked to identify what they believe will be the most significant change in the health care industry that will affect their business over the next five years." The most frequently cited responses were: reimbursements (23 percent); labor shortage (12 percent); demographics (12 percent); technology (11 percent); and regulatory/legislative oversight (11 percent). More than 62 percent believed that their identified change would have a significant impact on their facilities/construction needs.
Facility managers were asked to rank 23 construction-related areas indicating those that are never a problem to those that are always a problem. As-built documentation was the top problem identified on the survey with 60 percent of respondents ranking it as a significant issue. Design-document errors, start-up/commissioning process, and completion of punch list items followed with 46 percent of respondents ranking these as often problematic.
