Design consultants in healthcare: An integral part for hospital development

Jasleen Kaur Batra

To support the healthcare industry over the years a number of consulting firms have emerged to provide services in design and planning. The demand for better healthcare facilities is on the rise and so is the market for consulting firms.

The Indian healthcare industry has been on a rise and several hospitals and clinics have established over the years. Setting up a unit is a task in itself especially for new start-ups. Most of the new start ups lack the knowledge required to decide on a business model to run a hospital in a successful manner, the kind of investment that is required as well as the design that they need to follow to set up a clinic, diagnostic centre or a hospital. This is where consulting firms come in. Consulting firms are bodies having a lot of credit attached to them in terms of knowledge of the industry and several related aspects. A few consulting firms work with hospitals only during the initial stages and a few till the time the hospital is fully functional.

Types of consulting firms

Not every start up seeks the same kind of assistance, hence to meet all the requirements of the healthcare sector there are four types of consulting firms:-

Business advisory: These consulting firms provide services pertaining to the business strategy of the set up. They provide various viable business plan options, business model options and more. Private firms also need to identify trends, various ways to reduce costs and methods of improving efficiency. Hence, their primary focus is to review data on how healthcare is provided, patient outcomes, costs and benefits.

Hospital planners: These consulting firms help organisations decide what kind of space is required, what area suits their plan the best, what is the kind of infrastructure the hospital has, the technology they need and more.

Operation management: These consulting firms help them derive ways to efficiently use the available human resources, utilisation of space, new set ups and more.

Quality accreditation: These consulting firms provide guidance on the various areas that need their attention in order to get accredited by an organised body to add more authenticity to their hospital.

Sandeep Sinha

“These consulting firms in all the four specialised fields have made a huge impact on the healthcare industry. The end user are getting aware of these consulting firms and are open to hiring such firms. There is a lot of investment taking place by the private equity and they need a third party validation on how viable the business plan is. In such cases having a consulting firm by one’s side is always advantageous. There is a clear cut demand for such firms and now there is a supply in this field as well,” says Sandeep Sinha, Director, Frost & Sullivan.

Advantages

Hospital consultants are an integral part of the development of any new hospital.

Tarun Katiyar

Design is governed by the function that the hospital provides, and a properly designed hospital will definitely be more function friendly and patient friendly. A well-planned and designed hospital goes to the grass-root requirements of the patients and their relatives as well due to aspects like their cultural habits, literacy quotient, financial status, traditional backgrounds and eating habits and more.

One might have doubts on how useful these firms really are, and what is the play to enhance the business as well as structure of an organisation.

Setting up a hospital with the help of a consulting firm is an easy task as compared to doing it alone. Before setting up the plant, extensive research is conducted by the consulting firm on the current trends in healthcare, what areas have the maximum potential, which are the other leading names in the same domain, amount of revenue the hospitals are generating currently, the various technologies that they would need to incorporate in their unit and how much investment would that require, etc.

Such advice and strong market study is one of the biggest advantages. Another advantage is that as the consulting firms have a lot of experience they help the new start up get in touch with investors who seek a project to invest in. This helps the organisation to a large extent as getting the desired investment is the biggest task while setting up a hospital. Also, private equity is entering the space of healthcare and they too seek good projects where they can invest their money. But this only happens once there is a third party to validate the project and analyse its plan and structure carefully. The consulting firms in such a case play the role of the third party.

Importance of consulting firms for patient safety

Hospital is a technical building typically designed to centralise all services, segregation of spaces according to controlled environment and temperature concerns, usability and restricted controls, public, semi-public and private zones, etc. There are other important issues like infection control, access control, security systems, hospital services planning, intramural transportation Operation Theatre (OT) design, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) design that are best addressed and executed by proper hospital design.Therefore, the role of a hospital design consultant is of utmost importance. “The design of a facility/structure with its fixed and moveable components can have a significant impact on human performance, especially on the health and safety of employees, patients and families. Factors like patient-centric designs, safety, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, equity must be kept under consideration, which the consulting firms help in,” informs Tarun Katiyar, Principal Consultant, Hospaccx.

Future trends

Consulting firms will continue to bloom as more companies are hiring their services, as the concept of hiring a consulting firm while setting up a hospital is something people are getting used to. “There is a huge opportunity for such firms as they provide value addition to their client- and this is the most important element for a consulting firm. There are going to be new models coming up and hence the opportunities will continue to rise especially in the coming 5-6 years,” believes Sinha.

A few reasons why the future looks bright for the consulting firms in India are:

• Healthcare has witnessed tremendous growth in the recent years and this trend will continue. The booming hospital service industry is projected to grow at 9 per cent during 2010 – 2015.
• Strong demand for hospital services in tier-II and tier-III cities will also fuel growth of the sector.
• Healthcare has emerged as one of the most progressive and largest service sectors in India with an expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spend of 8 per cent by 2012 from 5.5 per cent in 2009
• Twenty health cities are expected to come up in the coming 5 years
• The medical tourism industry is set to touch $2 billion by 2010 with annual growth rate of 30 per cent

“The above-mentioned reasons are the reason why the consulting firms in India have a shining future ahead of them and also because a number of hospitals are growing each year and with this the promoters are realising the need to avail the services of hospital consultants. The future is also great since the Indian healthcare market has shown outstanding improvement in the past years,” signs off Katiyar.

(jasleen.batra@infomedia18.in)