How Will the HC Bill Affect Building Design & Construction?
It may be too soon to tell, but as we all try to sort out how the changes in the legislation will affect us personally, I think there are several key ways it may affect the design industry as well.
One is the increase in funding by $11 billion in 2011 for community health centers that provide medical care to patients who can’t afford it. This could mean expansion and renovation to handle bigger volumes.
Thanks to funding from the California Health Care Foundation, we’ve already been doing some work to create a website that provides information about ambulatory care facility design, including a compilation of best practice clinic examples, breakdown of recommended evidence-based design and operational strategies, and tips from those working in the field.
By 2014, the bill also will require most Americans to buy health insurance or pay fines of $95 per individual up to $285 per family or 1% of taxable household income, whichever is greater. This means an additional 32 million people will be insured. My assumption here is if more people have insurance, more people will use the healthcare system (not just the ER), which could create some demand for new or renovated hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices.
According to an article in yesterday’s USA Today, this could also mean that hospitals will “suffer smaller loses from the uninsured and see their revenue rise from payments received from insurance companies that will be covering more people.” And if hospitals are more profitable, it could positively affect the decisions they make to invest capital in new facilities.
So, some hopeful signs ahead. And no matter now you feel about the bill, it was necessary to start somewhere because the system was not getting any better on its own.