The New Customer Experience

In an increasingly competitive environment, elements of hospitality, retail and dining design will define the next-generation healthcare campus.

The revolution gripping the healthcare industry in the next 20 years will center on the customer experience. No longer will people be viewed simply as patients, who visit the hospital when they’re sick. The health campus will be part of their lives, their connection to resources, community and a path to lifelong wellness.

“The new healthcare facilities won’t be institutions,” says LPA Director of Healthcare Muhsin Lihony. “They will become neighborhood destinations very different than the old hospital environments.”

To become the healthcare provider of choice, providers will need to establish their own level of personal connection, convenience and service. Good doctors won’t be enough to differentiate a facility and attract “customers,” who will have options on where and how to approach their healthcare.

“Patients will have more control of not just their outcomes but their experience,” says LPA Design Director Franco Brown. “The experience will be the differentiator.”

On recent healthcare projects, LPA has employed designers with experience in hospitality, workplace, education, dining and retail to move the facility design in new directions. That cross-pollination, including landscape architects, interior designers and engineers, is expanding the concept of healthcare facilities to incorporate many of the customer-centric aspects shaping other industries.

As designers explore this next generation of facilities, key elements emerge that will guide the development of a new customer experience.

Concierge Service

A new interface will change the guest experience. It starts with the type of personalized welcoming that visitors experience. The arrival court is similar to what you would find in a high-end hotel, with a valet and easy drop-off spaces. Inside, no more reception desk, waiting in lines or groups of sick people sitting in a generic lounge. A concierge meets each patient in a quiet consultation room, ready with the specifics of the visit.

“It’s the personal touch,” says LPA Design Director Rick D’Amato. “They know who you are when you walk in the door.”

In the next-generation facilities, services will be segregated and easily accessible, creating more-welcoming environments for different types of patients. The emphasis is on one-on-one opportunities, providing each visitor with an individualized path and elements that make the trip special.

Elevated Physician, Nurse and Staff Spaces

With recruitment and retention key priorities, facilities offering a better physician and staff experience will have a competitive edge. A separate entry, private outdoor spaces and biophilic material choices will develop environments for relaxation and decompressing.

“It’s super experiential, where you almost feel as if you’re entering a private club when you get to the facility,” D’Amato says. “It should feel like you’re entering your own private world.”

Spaces will promote collaboration and communication. Private gardens, lounge areas and access to natural light and fresh air will be a prerequisite for any staff spaces.

“If you’re a surgeon and you’ve been operating for eight or nine hours, the last thing you want is to go to another enclosed environment with artificial light,” Brown says.

The Next-Gen Dining Hall

Instead of a cafeteria stuck in a dark corner of the building, hospital dining spaces will turn into value-added spaces, extending the facility’s level of service. “They become opportunities for families to get together in a space other than a waiting room,” D’Amato says. “Families can pull away from the hospital environment.”

Taking cues from commercial restaurant design, dining halls will offer better-quality choices for healthy food, and connect to outdoor spaces. A spirit of inclusion reshapes the experience, with a variety of cuisines. Instead of uniformity and institutional efficiency, dining halls will reflect offer choices seen in high-end food halls, such as a coffee lounge and comfortable spaces for family meals.

In addition, the next-generation dining hall can be rearranged for events and different activities. “They become extensions of the hospital’s ability to raise money, to elevate their image and to elevate their level of service,” D’Amato says

Digital Retail

Forget the old idea of space-wasting gift shop. Retail can be embedded throughout the common area with display windows offering different goods and services. Visitors will be able to scan a QR code to make a purchase and have it delivered to a waiting area or guest room.

Not only will the strategy free up floor area, the retail windows will provide more shopping options and give visitors something to do as they wait.

“When you are stressed, you want to be distracted,” D’Amato says. “Welcome distractions throughout the hospital have been shown to have a positive on the well-being of the visitor.”

The Spirit of Inclusion

Next-generation facilities will create a welcoming environment for all cultures and points of views. The worship center, a legacy of the traditional hospital model, will respond to the community, as well as patients. Beyond specific denominations, it can be a space for inspiration and comfort in difficult times.

The emphasis on inclusion and acceptance can be found throughout the facility. Design can provide amenities that will inclusively respond to the diversity of the community and create opportunities to connect on a level beyond physical health.

“It’s about this spiritual and emotional connection and understanding how to elevate that and to celebrate that,” D’Amato says. Intuitive wayfinding, energy flow and organization are all part of that connection.

Connections to Nature

The importance of nature in healing and wellness is not a new concept. The next level will be to integrate access to outdoor spaces, nature and natural light into every aspect of the experience for patients and visitors. Biophilia, lighting and color all play a role.

Bringing nature closer to patients is a top priority. Even patients with limited mobility can have easy access to secure outdoor spaces, which can be embedded throughout a facility. Significant views of trees and the sky can play an important role in performance and well-being. Even operating rooms can incorporate natural light.

Technology can help re-create elements of biophilia, but there is no replacement for the real thing. Brown says, “The smell of the soil after the rain. The smell of a flower. The ability to feel the warm light on your skin because your skin feels different. The ability to see color and to hear the rustling of the leaves. When you are sick, these are the things that bring you comfort.”

Built-in Adaptability

New facilities will need to recognize that healthcare delivery will be entering a period of rapid transformation in the next 20 years. Healthcare will be administered offsite; personal data will travel with individuals; AI will play an unknown role.

“We need to build that network backbone into the design to support the different technologies that are coming into play,” says LPA Senior Medical Planner Bill Pickford.

Facilities need to be designed to handle the upcoming disruptions, known and unknown. The lessons of the COVID pandemic won’t be forgotten. Spaces will need to be easily transformed to support different uses and provide personal choice and flexibility.