Some of our most qualified healthcare subject matter experts, those who have spent upwards of 35 years in this specific industry, are calling healthcare an emerging marketplace. The last time this market went through such a period of change was after the introduction of Social Security in the 1930s, and has since been historically static. Calling it emerging is notable and underscores a new period of significant change.

The truth is, today's hospitals and healthcare systems are leagues beyond their older counterparts. Legislation is causing a patient boom, large hospital systems are acquiring independent ones, and technology is at a premium. These are the factors spurring the reemergence of the healthcare market as a place for growth and development.

Government Acts

Legislation is encouraging a huge quantity of citizens to become responsible for their health. In the past six months, eight million Americans have acquired healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act. That's eight million people who weren't accounted for in the years leading up to 2014, and while it only takes a half hour to sign up for healthcare, it takes years to build the hospital and clinic space needed to support them.

With about 47,000 new people being introduced into the healthcare system every day through Affordable Care Act, healthcare providers are scrambling to find space. For example, after constructing a brand new cancer center in the southeast two years ago, we are now designing an expansion that will almost double that facility's treatment space.

Hospital Acquisition

With such an enormous healthcare act following so quickly on the heels of a recession, the healthcare industry is moving quickly. For the first time in years, there are more hospital retrofits than new construction. Simply put, it's been easier for large hospital corporations to acquire small independent ones, with already functional facilities and a complete staff, than build new facilities and fill them with healthcare providers. Once acquired, the corporations ask us to retrofit existing facilities to suit their vision and meet their technology standards.

Technology at a Premium

At a time when new construction was more prevalent than retrofits, we architects and engineers would design hospitals and supporting utilities around the technology. With all the acquisitions and technological advancements today, we have to now redesign existing space to fit a wide variety of machinery-both medical and functional.

Medically speaking, incorporating the newest technology means giving patients the best chances of survival. That also means that machinery of all shapes and sizes are moving into and out of hospital wings, some of which were never built to support such modern tools. In regards to functional technology, service standards are ever-increasing, and more hospitals want to be 100 percent operational through power-outages. That means centralizing or connecting all existing power systems, and placing massive diesel generators in areas that don't impact future hospital growth. The planning that goes into supporting these technological advances is more precise and calculated than ever before.

Starting Earlier, Staying Longer

The true purpose of healthcare design is improving patient comfort, and for years we've done that consistently and predictably. We're still providing the same consistent and predictable service, but now we're looking at this market through a different lens. Whether our team mates have been in the industry for decades or just months, we all recognize that this reemerging healthcare market is requiring our attention earlier and asking more of us over the long haul. We're ready though, and are excited for what the future holds.