Modern Hospital Architecture - threedpower.com

Modern Design For Hospital

Complex structures always need to be conceptualized and designed with new and refreshing ideas; keeping in mind it should match the technicalities of modern day architectural structures. Our team has been involved in providing some of the best 3D modeling, rendering and animation services to our clients with the latest tools and software. We make sure our clients have a nice experience with us and that they and their product both are treated well.

3D architectural visualizations designed to interact your architectural design. Our two primary goals are to bring out the architectural qualities of each respective project, and secondly to follow your brand integrity. We assist you toward the desired future experience, look and feel by adding visual views to the picture such as text, people or objects, and also by altering moods, lights, times of day and weather conditions.

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• 3D Hospital Emergency Room
• 3D Hospital Operating Theatre Interior
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Mobile Dental Clinic Designed for On-the-Go Patients

Ambulances & Mobile Hospitals - Ambulance Interior

Studio Dental in San Francisco designed their mobile unit for their on-the-go patients, with two treatment cubes, a sterilization room, a waiting area and mechanical services housed in a trailer, according to an article on Contract magazine.

Ambulance | Ambulance Interior Designs | Ambulance Interior Designing

The design team mock-up different configurations and consider alternative materials and graphics. The result is a matte black box with a jutting prow that ensures privacy, security, and cleanliness within.

Ambulance | Modern Ambulance Interior Designs | Modern Ambulance Interior Designing

Skylights over the treatment rooms pull in natural light. Silver decals on one side evoke the play of light through foliage, a concept that is carried through the interior in patterns of pixelated openings.
The interior features many built-in elements and every inch of space is put to use, the article said.

Ambulance Rendering Studio | Hospital Visualization Studio | Ambulance

Hotel Rendering Studio Ambulance Fabrication | 3D Architectural Hospital Ambulance Interior 

Architectural Hospital Ambulance Exterior

The History of Old Hospitals & Wards Designs

The original facilities for the sick were most likely temples dedicated to “healing gods.” Imhotep was the Egyptian healing god while Asclepius was revered in the Greek civilization. Prayers, sacrifices, and dream interpretations played a role in their healing process, but the ancient physicians also stitched wounds, set broken bones, and used opium for pain. Plans for a 5th century BC temple in Athens dedicated to Asclepius show a large room 24 x 108 for multiple dreamer-patients.
Some believe the earliest dedicated hospitals were in Mesopotamia, while other researchers believe they were at Buddhist monasteries in India and Sri Lanka. Ancient writings indicate that the Sinhalese King Panduka bhaya had hospitals built in present day Sri Lanka in the 4th century BC. The oldest architectural evidence of a hospital appears to be at Mihintale in Sri Lanka which can be dated to the 9th century AD.

The extensive ruins suggest there were patient rooms which measured 13 x 13 which is surprisingly close to the patient rooms used today. In addition to surgical instruments, archeologists found a stone “medicinal trough” approximately seven feet in length and 30 inches wide that may have been used for the first hydrotherapy with mineral water or medicinal oils.
While the Greeks were recognized as the originators of “rational” medicine, they did not have hospitals. The physicians made calls and treated patients in their homes, a practice that continued for hundreds of years. The Romans provided us with the root of the word “hospital” from the Latin word “hospes” for host or “hospitium” meaning a place to entertain. While medical schools were established in Greece in the 6th Century BC, there is general consensus that the first teaching hospital with visiting physicians and scholars from Egypt, India, and Greece was founded at Gondisapur in present day Iran in 300 AD.

Among the early, well-documented healthcare facilities were the Roman military hospitals. The plans for the one in Vindossa in present day Switzerland built in the 1st century AD shows small patient rooms with ante rooms built around courtyards. Each room was thought to hold three beds indicating the ward concept was used early in the history of hospital development. One source indicated that similar hospitals may have also been built for gladiators and slaves due their financial value, however public hospitals were not available and physicians made house calls.
As the Roman Empire turned to Christianity, the Church's role in providing for the sick became firmly established. After 400 AD, many monasteries were constructed generally including accommodations for travelers, the poor, and the sick. The monarchs of the 6th century reinforced this role with emperors, such as Charlemagne, who directed that a hospital should be attached to every cathedral that was built in his empire.

Religious institutions continued to provide most of the healthcare to the poor in large, open wards, while physicians continued the practice of making house calls to the upper class. The religious influence in early healthcare is illustrated by duties of the Warden (Administrator) of St Mary's Hospital in England in 1390. He was required to not only satisfy himself of the seriousness of the medical complaint, but to also hear the confession of the patient before admission.
The wards housing multiple patients continued to be expanded and became the standard for the public hospitals for hundreds of years. Often the wards were configured so the sick could see the altar to assist with their recovery. The cross-shaped plan, which is thought to have originated in Florence, Italy, in the 1400s achieved this goal with the altar in the middle and multiple wards radiating from it.

The plan is similar to many hospitals today with the nurse's station rather than the altar at the centre. Florence was well known for quality hospitals with good physicians and clean beds. Martin Luther, who was generally critical of all Roman Catholic institutions, even recognized the quality of the facilities during a visit in 1500.

Florida hospital Architectural Visualization

Volunteers are creating works of art to be displayed throughout hospitals within Florida's Lee Memorial Health System, according to an article in on the NBC-2website.

A Global Alliance for Arts and Health report says almost half of the country's healthcare institutions have art programs.  Displaying art is the most common type.
As patients wait for imaging and procedures, they can look up at the ceiling and see the art that volunteers have made for them, the article said.

Hospital officials said they wanted patients to feel like they're at Disney World.  He hopes more people take part in this labor of love.

Healthcare Design Trends in India

Modern Hospital Design

According to 3D Power, the Indian healthcare industry is expected to grow to $79 billion in 2012 from $40 billion in 2010. This number will increase to $230 billion by 2020. This exciting growth responds to various demographic and economic trends, including an increasing population, rise in disposable income, increasing consumerism and demand for high-quality healthcare, greater incidence of lifestyle-related diseases, increasing employer-based insurance coverage, and increased government spending on public healthcare. Advancements in medical sciences and technology as well as an influx of foreign-trained doctors in the workforce also have led to an increasing focus on providing state-of-the-art equipment and services to patients.

In the last 10 years, there has been a parallel demand for high-quality hospital infrastructure to support the growing demands for healthcare. In India, healthcare is provided in primarily three types of settings: government-funded and run hospitals and healthcare clinics that provide free healthcare services, private for-profit hospitals and health centres, and mission-based non profit hospitals. The first two types of settings comprise the majority of the healthcare infrastructure in the country.

Trends in private healthcare projects

Private for-profit hospitals are seeing a marked growth with several facility design projects underway in different parts of the country. According to WHO health statistics from 2010, around 75% of the total annual healthcare spending in India came from the private sector. Hospital systems such as Fortis and Apollo have been immensely successful in the last 10 years in providing high-quality healthcare services to a growing educated and affluent urban population. While revenue generation is a key goal for these hospitals, emulation of Western standards and ensuring the best outcomes for patients is important in order for them to attract and retain customers. To stay competitive in the market, hospitals are opting for external accreditation through international organizations such as Joint Commission International or India’s National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers. Accreditation also is seen as an important process for improving patient safety and quality of care provided to patients. With medical tourism being an important driver, many private hospitals aspire to provide high-quality built environments similar to those found in U.S. and European hospitals.

Commenting on some of the key drivers for private hospital design in India, Gaurav Chopra, vice president and director, South Asia region, HKS Architects, says, “While there is a growing focus on patient-centred care, many new private hospitals are investing heavily in new technology and equipment, and often the built environment mandate is to house this technology. Also, given the demand for hospital beds and its direct relation to the bottom line, the focus of hospital design projects is primarily on increasing bed capacity.”
According to Chopra, many private hospitals provide a combination of multi-bed wards (15-20% total bed count), single occupancy rooms (around 70%), and luxury single rooms for high-paying customers (around 5%). Infection control is an important concern for healthcare facilities in India and selection of cleanable and durable materials is a key design driver. Local culture and traditions, as well as climate, are important factors that impact the layout of spaces and building form and design.

For example, family members are usually present at all times during a patient’s hospital stay, which requires larger patient rooms. Providing larger waiting rooms for families in the emergency department, surgery, and ICU also is necessary. In addition, 3D Power acknowledges that spirituality and religion are an important part of life in India, and hospital artwork may refer to symbols and images of the dominant culture in the region.

Ancient hospitals- A Historic Journey

As early as 4000 bce, religions identified certain of their deities with healing. The temples of Saturn, and later of Asclepius in Asia Minor, were recognized as healing centres. Brahmanic hospitals were established inSri Lanka as early as 431 bce, and King Ashoka established a chain of hospitals in Hindustan about 230 bce. Around 100 bce the Romans established hospitals (valetudinaria) for the treatment of their sick and injured soldiers; their care was important because it was upon the integrity of the legions that the power of ancient Rome was based.

It can be said, however, that the modern concept of a hospital dates from 331 ce when Roman emperor Constantine I (Constantine the Great), having been converted to Christianity, abolished all pagan hospitals and thus created the opportunity for a new start. Until that time disease had isolated the sufferer from the community. The Christian tradition emphasized the close relationship of the sufferer to the members of the community, upon whom rested the obligation for care. Illness thus became a matter for the Christian church.


About 370ce St. Basil the Great established a religious foundation in Cappadocia that included a hospital, an isolation unit for those suffering from leprosy, and buildings to house the poor, the elderly, and the sick. Following this example, similar hospitals were later built in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Another notable foundation was that of St. Benedict of Nursia at Montecassino, founded early in the 6th century, where the care of the sick was placed above and before every other Christian duty. It was from this beginning that one of the first medical schools in Europe ultimately grew at Salerno and was of high repute by the 11th century. This example led to the establishment of similar monastic infirmaries in the western part of the empire.

The Hôtel-Dieu of Lyon was opened in 542 and the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris in 660. In these hospitals more attention was given to the well-being of the patient’s soul than to curing bodily ailments. The manner in which monks cared for their own sick became a model for the laity. The monasteries had an infirmitorium, a place to which their sick were taken for treatment. The monasteries had a pharmacy and frequently a garden with medicinal plants. In addition to caring for sick monks, the monasteries opened their doors to pilgrims and to other travellers.

Religion continued to be the dominant influence in the establishment of hospitals during the Middle Ages. The growth of hospitals accelerated during the Crusades, which began at the end of the 11th century. Pestilence and disease were more potent enemies than the Saracens in defeating the crusaders. Military hospitals came into being along the traveled routes; the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John in 1099 established in the Holy Land a hospital that could care for some 2,000 patients. It is said to have been especially concerned with eye disease, and it may have been the first of the specialized hospitals. This order has survived through the centuries as the St. John Ambulance.

Throughout the Middle Ages, but notably in the 12th century, the number of hospitals grew rapidly in Europe. Arab hospitals—such as those established at Baghdad and Damascus and in Córdoba in Spain—were notable for the fact that they admitted patients regardless of religious belief, race, or social order. The Hospital of the Holy Ghost, founded in 1145 at Montpellier in France, established a high reputation and later became one of the most important centres in Europe for the training of doctors. By far the greater number of hospitals established during the Middle Ages, however, were monastic institutions under the Benedictines, who are credited with having founded more than 2,000.

The Middle Ages also saw the beginnings of support for hospital-like institutions by secular authorities. Toward the end of the 15th century, many cities and towns supported some kind of institutional health care: it has been said that in England there were no fewer than 200 such establishments that met a growing social need. This gradual transfer of responsibility for institutional health care from the church to civil authorities continued in Europe after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540 by Henry VIII, which put an end to hospital building in England for some 200 years.
The loss of monastic hospitals in England caused the secular authorities to provide for the sick, the injured, and the handicapped, thus laying the foundation for the voluntary hospital movement.

 The first voluntary hospital in England was probably established in 1718 by Huguenots from France and was closely followed by the foundation of such London hospitals as the Westminster Hospital in 1719, Guy’s Hospital in 1724, and the London Hospital in 1740. Between 1736 and 1787, hospitals were established outside London in at least 18 cities. The initiative spread to Scotland, where the first voluntary hospital, the Little Hospital, was opened in Edinburgh in 1729.

The first hospital in North America (Hospital de Jesús Nazareno) was built in Mexico City in 1524 by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés; the structure still stands. The French established a hospital in Canada in 1639 at Quebec city, the Hôtel-Dieu du Précieux Sang, which is still in operation (as the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec), although not at its original location. In 1644 Jeanne Mance, a French noblewoman, built a hospital of ax-hewn logs on the island of Montreal; this was the beginning of the Hôtel-Dieu de St. Joseph, out of which grew the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, now considered to be the oldest nursing group organized in North America. The first hospital in the territory of the present-day United States is said to have been a hospital for soldiers on Manhattan Island, established in 1663.

The early hospitals were primarily almshouses, one of the first of which was established by English Quaker leader and colonist William Penn in Philadelphia in 1713. The first incorporated hospital in America was the Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadelphia, which obtained a charter from the crown in 1751.

Public Health in British India: Health Care Centres

The evolution of public health in British India and the history of disease prevention in that part of world in the 19th and early 20th century provide a valuable insight into the period that witnessed the development of new trends in medical systems and a transition from surveys to microscopic studies in medicine. It harbours the earliest laboratory works and groundbreaking achievements in microbiology and immunology. The advent of infectious diseases and tropical medicine was a direct consequence of colonialism. The history of diseases and their prevention in the colonial context traces back the epidemiology of infectious diseases, many of which are still prevalent in third world countries. It reveals the development of surveillance systems and the response to epidemics by the imperial government. It depicts how the establishment of health systems under the colonial power shaped disease control in British India to improve the health of its citizens.

The history of western medicine in India dates back to 1600, when the first medical officers arrived in India along with the British East India Company's first fleet as ship's surgeons. In 1757, the East India Company established its rule in India, which led to the development of civil and military services. A medical department was established in Bengal as far back as 1764, for rendering medical services to the troops and servants of the Company. At that time, it consisted of 4 head surgeons, 8 assistant surgeons, and 28 surgeon's mates. In 1775, Hospital Boards were formed to administer European hospitals comprising of the Surgeon General and Physician General, who were in the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Indian Army. In 1785, medical departments were set up in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay presidencies with 234 surgeons. The medical departments involved both military and civil medical services. In 1796, hospital boards were renamed as medical boards to look after the affairs of the civil part of the medical departments. 

In 1857, the Indian Rebellion led to the transfer of administration of India to the Crown and different departments of civil services were developed. It wasn’t until 1868 that a separate civil medical department was formed in Bengal. In 1869, a Public Health Commissioner and a Statistical Officer were appointed to the Government of India. In 1896, with the abolition of the presidential system, all three presidential medical departments were amalgamated to form the Indian Medical Services (IMS). After the development of IMS, medical duties for the Royal Indian Army were performed by the Army Medical Department, later called the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). Medical departments were under the control of the central government until 1919. The Montgomery-Chelmsford Constitutional Reforms of 1919 led to the transfer of public health, sanitation, and vital statistics to the provinces. This was first step in the decentralization of health administration in India. In 1920-21, Municipality and Local Board Acts were passed containing legal provisions for the advancement of public health in provinces.

Medical Institutions

The first hospital in India was the Madras General Hospital in 1679. The Presidency General Hospital, Calcutta was formed in 1796. About four hospitals were formed in Madras between 1800 to1820. To fulfil the growing need for health professionals, Calcutta Medical College was established by an order in February 1835, which was the first institute of western medicine in Asia. Medical College Hospital, Calcutta was formed in 1852. In 1860, Lahore Medical School (later named King Edward Medical College) started in Lahore, Punjab. Afterwards, a network of hospitals was set up throughout India. In 1854, the government of India agreed to supply medicines and instruments to the growing network of minor hospitals and dispensaries. Government Store Depots were established in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Mian Mir, and Rangoon. Lady Reading Health School, Delhi was established in 1918. In 1930, the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health was established in Calcutta. In 1939, the first Rural Health Training Centre was established in Singur near Calcutta

Vintage Exteriors 

Increasing Patient Satisfaction By Decreasing Patient Room Size

In the current industry climate, architects and designers can expect healthcare clients to challenge practices-even best practices-if they lead to higher costs. Case in point: Pittsburgh’s UPMC expected every square foot of its new UPMC East hospital, completed in July 2012, to contribute value to the organization, reflecting a broad industry trend in response to changing reimbursement models under the Affordable Care Act. Healthcare organizations are seeking projects that are economically viable from the start and offer value over the long term. For many, any potentially wasted square footage, especially in the patient room, is a luxury that’s no longer sustainable.

The patient room is one of the largest investments a hospital will make, with the design decision multiplied dozens, even hundreds, of times. For UPMC East, the challenge for BBH Design (Raleigh) was to balance performance and cost, assuming that at some point there are diminishing returns on how much performance is enhanced by an increase in size. Additionally, value for UPMC East was also defined by introducing smart technology into patient rooms, specifically a system that prompts nurses to initiate care activities and provides patient education.

Putting a guidelines-driven approach to patient room square footage aside in favor of a design research approach, the team addressed a list of functional and experiential criteria with the client. After dozens of iterations, UPMC selected a right-sized patient room for its needs. Here’s a look at how the research informed the design.

Balancing objectives The 2010 Facility Guidelines Institute’s Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities (FGI) suggests that patient/family-centered patient rooms should include 250 square feet of clear floor area, exclusive of toilet rooms, closets, lockers, wardrobes, alcoves, or vestibules. The layout should also provide a minimum clear dimension of 15 feet, with an additional 30 square feet of clear floor area for each family member permitted by the facility to be in the room.

For the UPMC East project, the first challenge was to find the right size and layout that would be patient/family-centered and ultimately deliver capital and operational savings. Ownership indicated early in the schematic phase that many of the existing UPMC facilities with rooms smaller than FGI’s suggestion had been determined to be sufficient for patient-centered care, which led the design team to begin the project by benchmarking patient rooms’ square footages across UPMC and non-UPMC facilities, finding the average room size to be 183 net square feet. This average was very low due to the number of pre-2000 UPMC facilities in the sample. While UPMC East recognized that 183 square feet was too small to be a target for new hospital construction, it was still committed to the idea of a more space-efficient option.

The next step involved the construction of a series of progressive patient room mock-ups, allowing the team to test room performance against a list of criteria developed with UPMC East. Initially, the most important criterion was a small floor area. Other criteria included ample space around the patient bed, maximum natural light, toilet access from the headwall, and the capacity to accommodate bariatric patients. Interestingly, the final design was not the smallest, but it outperformed in patient-centric criteria such as visibility of the patient from the corridor, ample space around the patient, and patient privacy.

Healthcare Center

Introduction

3D Power has observed that healthcare has become one of India's largest sectors - both in terms of revenue and employment. The industry comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment. The Indian healthcare industry is growing at a tremendous pace due to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well private players.
The Indian healthcare delivery system is categorised into two major components - public and private. The Government, i.e. public healthcare system comprises limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of primary healthcare centers (PHCs) in rural areas. The private sector provides majority of secondary, tertiary and quaternary care institutions with a major concentration in metros, tier I and tier II cities.
India's primary competitive advantage lies in its large pool of well-trained medical professionals. Also, India's cost advantage compared to peers in Asia and Western countries is significant - cost of surgery in India is one-tenth of that in the US or Western Europe.

Market Size

According to estimates, the overall Indian health care market today is US$ 65 billion, of which the hospital supplies and health care equipment segment is believed to be only around US$ 4.5-5 million. Health care delivery, which includes hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostics centres, and pharmaceuticals, constitutes 65 per cent of the overall market.
India requires 600,000 to 700,000 additional beds over the next five to six years, which potentially throws an opportunity of more than US$ 25-30 billion. While the existing hospitals would look at expanding their capabilities, a lot of new properties would also come up.
Overall the number of transactions in the healthcare space is going to grow as companies are seeking growth capital. The average investment size by private equity funds in healthcare chains has increased to US$ 20-30 million which was around US$ 5-15 million, said Mr. Abhishek P Singh, Associate Director for Healthcare, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). What 3D Power has seen is that the Indian medical tourism industry is pegged at US$ 1 billion per annum, growing at around 18 per cent and is expected to touch US$ 2 billion by 2015.
There is a significant scope for enhancing healthcare services considering that healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is rising. Rural India, which accounts for over 70 per cent of the population, is set to emerge as a potential demand source. Only three per cent of specialist physicians cater to rural demand.

5 Trends That Will Redefine Your Healthcare Experience In 2015

Healthcare is at a major turning point as doctors and hospitals look for ways to improve health outcomes while meeting cost constraints. Here’s how that’s going to affect you.

Technology has revolutionized many aspects of our lives (there seems to be an app for almost everything these days), but our modern healthcare system has remained largely on the sidelines of this transformation.
One small example: Electronic health records have existed for more than 30 years. As of 2008, only 38% of office-based physicians had converted to e-records, according to the Centres for Disease Control. That number increased to about 78% of office-based physicians as of 2013, but it shows how slow the healthcare industry is to adopt new digital tools.
Technological progress in the industry is more of a steady slog than headline-making disruption, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t big things happening. Here are five important trends that will shape your healthcare experience this year and beyond.
The Year Of Seamless Care.

Healthcare IT systems, which are currently shored up behind proprietary walls, will need to find ways to interact across the care spectrum. About 95% of healthcare providers say interoperability challenges limit their ability to transfer data from one medical center to another, according to a study by Premier  PINC . Essentially, that slows down the transfer of information about patients, which can create sometimes dangerous gaps in care.
Susan DeVore, CEO of Premier, a health care alliance, says that while we’ve created a large amount of e-records in recent years, those records are “not able to seamlessly talk to each other."
That will start to change this year at "both the public and private level," said DeVore. The U.S. Office of the National Coordinator will push interoperability as a core requirement in its next stage of guidelines, and providers will become more proactive in pushing for APIs and open source tools that developers can use to better connect data across medical locations.
Digital Tools Will Become More Widespread.

Digitally-enabled care is a must-have for hospitals and doctors in order to deliver the best care, but technology has been slow to infiltrate the medical world. It's not about "disruption" in this industry, it's about enhancement — and that's what you'll see more of in 2015.

Digital tools — from telemedicine to in-office software — will make your healthcare more efficient, more cost-effective and, ultimately, result in healthier patients. According to a Price Waterhouse Cooper study, half of doctors believe e-visits could replace more than 10% of in-office patient appointments, and roughly 75% of doctors said they would prescribe an app to help patients manage chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Putting A Price On Drug Innovation.

Specialty drugs will dominate conversations about health costs this year. Niche treatments are expensive to develop and target a small portion of the population, which means they often carry high price tags. Only 1% to 3% of the U.S. population uses specialty drugs, yet spending on them is expected to account for 50% of drug payments by 2018, according to a study by Prime Therapeutics.
These drugs could potentially lower overall health bills as patients are cured of chronic diseases and avoid expensive complications, but the challenge will be how to cope with high price tags today. Take a revolutionary new Hepatitis C therapy as an example. The drug, which costs $84,000 per patient for a full course, could inflate state Medicaid programs by almost 15%, according to DeVore.

That’s only one specialty treatment for one condition: when compounded, though, the effect could be huge. The average cost of filling a specialty drug prescription for a month is $1,800 compared with $54 for non-specialty drugs, such as antibiotics or anti-cholesterol medication, according to data from Express Scripts. At the same time, the number of patients filling specialty drug scripts is rising faster than the number filing for traditional drugs. The use of specialty medications increased 2.5% in 2013 versus a 0.5% gain for traditional prescriptions, Express Scripts found.
Congress will likely get into the issue this year: Democrats may push for laws allowing Medicaid to negotiate prices with drug makers, while Republicans may go after private sector solutions to inspire competition, such as creating streamlined approval for generic equivalents.
Patient Knowledge Is Power.

Transparency will become even more important in healthcare this year, especially when it comes to financial data. Services such as ZocDoc already provide access to doctor reviews from a quality and care perspective. More businesses like this will proliferate to help parse the reams of financial information that will become available.
Medicare is releasing its physician procedure charges, while insurance comparisons are available through the Obamacare exchanges. You’ll also be able to review payments your doctor is receiving from drug and device manufacturers via the Open Payments website. This is just the beginning.

"That desire for transparency will continue," said DeVore. "Consumers will become more and more knowledgeable to the availability of information."
This data is still in its early stages, though, and it will continue to take time to confirm and sort out issues with data sets, said DeVore. This year will see more progress in how we interpret and access available medical information.
Cutting Out The Cost Surprises.
Healthcare providers are now using a novel approach to cut costs without sacrificing care: bundled payments.
Bundled payments group all the services a patient receives during an episode of care under one fee. For example, say you're getting knee replacement surgery. A hospital, possibly in conjunction with other providers, will set a lump-sum cost that covers your whole course of care: pre-op, hospital stay, surgery, anesthesia, physical therapy, and follow-up. No surprise costs.
As a patient or an insurance company, you know what you’re going to pay. As a hospital, you're incentivized to provide the necessary services as efficiently as possible, and with the highest-quality care, since the hospital will keep a portion of the savings generated. On the flip side, they're also held accountable for any costs overruns.

It's already a voluntary federal program, and states are also test-driving bundled payments. Arkansas' Medicaid program has mandatory bundled payments in place for 10 conditions, and Tennessee and Ohio are set to announce their own programs in 2015. Even some employers — including Kroger, Boeing and Lowes — are starting to adopt similar initiatives.
Bundled payments not only take out the cost surprise, they also encourage providers to provide connected care. At the end of the day, that’s what patients want: “connected, consistent, coordinated care,” said DeVore.

Apollo Hospitals to buy stake in Assam Hospitals - healthcare design

-Newsonprojects.com

Chennai-headquartered hospital chain Apollo Hospitals has announced plans to acquire a majority stake (51 per cent) in Assam Hospitals, a Guwahati-based stand-alone hospital, for Rs. 57.25 crore.
A press release from Apollo Hospitals says Assam Hospitals runs a 220-bed "profitable hospital" in Guwahati, with an occupancy level of over 80 per cent.
The facility will be further upgraded and expanded to accommodate another 80 beds to become a 300-bed hospital.
It has entered into a definitive agreement with Assam Hospitals and due diligence is on.
This will further strengthen Apollo’s presence in this region, where we have strong brand equity, the release has said.
Quoting Suneetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, the release says, “We have been on the look-out for acquisitions to grow inorganically in this region, and consider this as the right choice given its significant presence in the region”.
Apollo Hospitals currently has 8,488 beds across 51 hospitals, 1,586 pharmacies, 92 primary care and diagnostic clinics, and 100 telemedicine units across 10 countries.
For the year 2014-15, it reported 4.8 per cent growth in net profit at Rs.346 crore against Rs. 330 crore reported in the previous year.
The revenues for the year grew 19 per cent to Rs. 4,592 crore, from Rs.3,861 crore in 2013-14.