by Christopher Cornue

The retiring President for the Joint Commission, Dr. Dennis O’Leary, led a panel discussion at the ISQua annual meeting in October '07 focusing on the Hospital of the Future. Introducing the topic, Dr. O’Leary discussed the challenges that the Hospital of the Future will face, including:

•Increased cost of providing care;
•Reducing (or eliminating) preventable injuries and deaths;
•Increased scrutiny in a world of transparency;
•Increased number of uninsured and underinsured;
•Increased staffing and workforce challenges;
•Competition resulting from “disaggregation”

He also suggested we’re in the midst of several opportunities, including a boom in hospital construction, new / advancing technology, and new care models & concepts. These opportunities provide us the ability to meet several of the challenges he outlined and allow us to ensure we:

•Avoid doing more of the same in the future;
•Consider several factors and implications, including healthcare economics, professional staffing, patient & family-centered care, physical environment and technology;
•Allow that principles should guide development of the Hospital of the Future.

Do you agree with his assessment? What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the hospital of the future?