By Healthcare Facilities Today

Driven by the Affordable Care Act, health care has been moving toward a model with a central hospital serving as a hub for a network of satellite facilities. Because planning and multidepartment coordination is critical , department leaders need to be involved in the process from the beginning, said Patti Costello, executive director of the Association for the Healthcare Environment, in an article in the December issue of Health Facilities Management magazine.

"Environmental services leaders need to engage in high-level, strategic discussions with their peers and within their own organizations about how the wellness focus will shift inpatient care to the sickest patients and how that shift will impact the operation in terms of measuring outcomes, preventing readmissions and improving Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores," Costello said in the article.

While the transition comes with many advantages, getting to that point is fraught with challenges, according to the article.

One common difficulty is restructuring of staff, which can present a difficult adjustment for some managers. 

"Facility managers tend to function autonomously, so it's a big change when they are asked to expand their focus from one building to multiple facilities," Flannery said.

Read the article.