In the NewsSeptember 21

Hospitals Get Creative Amid Covid-19

Experts in the field of health care, as well as those in the design and construction of hospital systems, have been talking for many years about maximizing existing care space and expanding outpatient facilities and telehealth options, but COVID-19 exposed many flaws in hospital systems and brought these issues to the forefront of hospital innovation.

Steve Dickerson, health care architect for Diekema Hamann Architecture + Engineering in Kalamazoo, said the coronavirus crisis revealed financial vulnerabilities in health systems, which previously relied on outpatient care as a primary source of revenue.

“A lot of revenue was lost when they stopped doing voluntary and ambulatory procedures,” Dickerson said, ”so they became a little bit more vulnerable to acquisitions at that point.”

The health care industry is in a unique bind because of COVID-19, said Dan Behler, director of health care and senior living for EV Construction in Holland. Health care usually remained constant in past economic crises that negatively impacted most consumer-driven markets like retail or restaurants, but during the this pandemic, even hospitals weren’t safe.

Read the full story at GRBJ.com.