This post is the first in a series of posts that will explore the L.I.F.E. Concept, explore the changing nature of healthcare and why these converge to make an excellent target market for BuildUSA.
The L.I.F.E Concept stands for “Life Institute Furthering Excellence” (Life). It was conceived in the mid 1980’s and officially presented to the Chicago metro market in 1986, The foundational concept described in an early Steve’s Build Blog (SBB) post, revolves around the idea that every healthcare system needs to define and evolve the proper balance of “High Tech” & “High Touch” care, for both sickness and wellness.
The photo above illustrates the L.I.F.E. Concept. Metaphorically speaking, the foundation or roots of the health tree system provides:
Foundational Services:
- Critical care beds
- Surgery
- Emergency
- All required support services
- Administration
The community health tree was then balanced based on community demographic needs with the following services:
Elder Continuum of Care Services:
- Independent Living
- Assisted Care
- Skilled Care
- Hospice Care
High Tech Services:
- Diagnostics
- Ambulatory Surgical Care (ASC)
- Ambulatory Services Care (Health)
High Touch Servies:
- Day care
- Fitness & Wellness
- Education
L.I.F.E. was developed as a high-level healthcare strategic planning tool. To fully understand a community’s needs and flush out a comprehensive strategic plan that can achieve the proper service levels and balance requires the following questions to be flushed out:
- Understanding the metrics describing the size, nature & needs of the population,
- Understanding the clinical services (types & quantity) needed to serve said population.
- Understanding the staffing & physical spaces (types & quantity) required to serve said population.
- Identifying, procuring, creating and operating the real estate within which these services can be located.
Another healthcare reality that impacts strategic planning and operations is staffing. Today’s employees are highly mobile, oftentimes moving from job to job. Standardization and modularization bring cost and process efficiencies to construction but impacts equally on clinical operations. With staff moving from department to department and facility to facility, the ability to standardize spatial and equipment configurations, and standardize best practice processes and policies becomes more important than ever. It will allow staff to maintain their flexibility of movement but still be able to work confidently and effectively.
The healthcare sector has a powerful need to adopt BuildUSA’s mission of creating.
“Higher Quality, Higher Performance buildings delivered to market in shorter time periods and at lower cost.”
Certain healthcare facility types (especially in the ambulatory sector) need to grow rapidly. Combining this with the multiple benefits the health industry can realize by maximizing standardization and modularization, for both clinical and support service day to day operations. One can make a powerful case for implementing “Optimized” building solutions as quickly as possible.