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> IDAHO HOSPITALS FOCUS ON FAMILY AS LUXURY
Idaho hospitals focus on family as luxury trends sweep
industry
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by Cady McGovern
Published: November 21,2013
Tags: Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, Magic Valley Medical Center, North ShoreLIJ Health System, Saint Alphonsus Health System, St. Luke's Health Systems, Stony Brook University,
University of Southern California, West Valley Medical Center
All they need are mints on the pillows.
Hospitals nationwide are embracing trends
that pump up the luxury in private patient
rooms. Large flat-screen TVs, private
refrigerators, new furniture and unlimited
Internet access – the sort of amenities that
have long defined finer hotels – are
becoming health-care norms as institutions
redefine spaces that, historically, have been
more clinical than comfortable.
Family members spend time with their newest
addition in one of the postpartum suites at West
Valley Medical Center in Boise. Photo courtesy of
It’s not just about creature comforts and
superfluous amenities. At work is a real
drive toward promoting wellness, not to
mention competing with rival institutions in
a sometimes cutthroat industry.
West Valley Medical Center.
“If I see a very nice hospital bed and a nice
entryway and lobby,” noted Long Island
Association Chief Economist John Rizzo, a professor of economics and preventive medicine at Stony
Brook University in New York, “that sends a positive signal to me.”
A chief tenet of the new norm is the private room.
“We have had all private rooms for probably more than three decades,” Ken Dey, spokesman for St.
Luke’s Health System in Boise, said in an email. “Private rooms are standard now.”
One of the major amenities in the St. Luke’s system is comfortable family space in patient rooms. For
example, at its Magic Valley Medical Center, completed in 2011, St. Luke’s contracted with local
cabinet maker Randy Cox, of RJ’s Custom Cabinets, to design and build foldaway beds that double as
couches or loveseats. The beds include storage for linens and pillows so patients’ family members can
sleep comfortably during long stays.
“The space inside the room for family is a given,” said Jeff Hull, St. Luke’s director of architecture and
construction. “That’s just a part of health care nowadays.”
“Creating ways for families to be nearby comfortably reduces anxiety for the patient and ultimately
improves the healing process,” Wendy McClain, director of marketing and communications for West
Valley Medical Center in Caldwell, said in an email.
West Valley’s amenities include post-partum family suites with king-size beds and sibling activity
areas, sleeper chairs and 24-hour access for families in the intensive care unit, a ceiling-mounted TV
in the nuclear medicine suite for patients undergoing scanning, and pet therapy.
“We like to think of these ‘amenities’ more in terms of features that enhance the healing environment
of our patients,” Saint Alphonsus Health System spokesman Josh Schlaich said in an email. “We’ve
found that these healing features lead to a shorter length of stay, higher patient satisfaction scores,
lower infection rates, better sleep, improved staff efficiency, and an environment of lowered stress.”
Amenities at Saint Alphonsus include natural lighting, private treatment and consultation spaces, a
healing garden, room-delivery food service, pagers for waiting guests, and ergonomics and
http://idahobusinessreview.com/2013/11/21/idaho-hospitals-focus-on-family-as-luxury-trends-sweep-industry/[11/27/2013 9:06:50 AM]
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technology upgrades, Schlaich said. Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise has roughly 345
private rooms.
Hull said the medical architecture community has made a shift from the traditionally hard, sterile
hospital environment toward evidence-based design, which is a process of making architectural and
design decisions based on credible research.
“Everything we’re trying to do is get the
patient home sooner,” Hull said. He said
creating space for patients’ families,
reducing stress, bringing nature into the
hospital and reducing noise have all been
shown to improve patient outcomes.
In Twin Falls, Hull said, St. Luke’s brought
nature indoors by creating three “zones”
inspired by rivers and lakes, agriculture, and
the desert. Interior designers used colors
from those landscapes in the décor.
“We do a lot of color,” Hull said. “It’s very
calming and healing.”
Of course, hospital rooms also sport the
latest bedside technology, helping healthcare providers monitor vital signs remotely
and gain quick access to electronic medical
records.
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Center include space for families, including window
benches that convert into beds where family
But as hospitals add these aesthetic and
members can sleep. Photo courtesy of St. Luke’s.
medical amenities, some observers are
questioning whether institutions are spending too much on comfort and not enough on care.
If they are, according to Rizzo, it’s a sign that competition with other hospitals – not medical necessity
– may be driving the luxurious upgrades.
“It’s easier to observe hospital amenities than quality of care,” Rizzo noted. “Consumers go with what
they can observe. They can’t really observe quality.”
Terry Lynam, a spokesman for the North Shore-LIJ Health System in New York, said his system
stresses that patients shouldn’t be blinded by amenities and should always consider clinical quality
more than physical accommodations.
However, a nicer physical space often translates to better-quality care, Lynam noted.
“A lot of it is perception,” he said. “Even though your physical plant is not necessarily a reflection of
clinical quality, it’s the perception left with patients, families, physicians and other clinical talent.”
That being said, many hospitals cite anecdotal evidence that more cheerful and uplifting environments
often benefit patients.
John Romley, an assistant professor and economist at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health
Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California, sees the relationship between amenities
and quality of care as “a continuum.”
Romley agrees that comfort is a good thing, but cites inherent danger in improvements based more on
marketing than medicine.
“There’s a gray area,” he said. “It’s going to strengthen their position overall in the marketplace. (But)
it’s not unreasonable to worry that hospitals don’t have endless supplies of cash. Perhaps one comes
at the expense of the other.”
Lynam said improvement projects are typically paid for through donations and borrowing – and they
often pay back hospitals and health systems by making it easier to recruit top-notch staff and further
donations.
“Our patient satisfaction scores have spiked,” Lynam said. “You have to believe that the main reason
is the physical accommodations.”
Claude Solnik, of Dolan Media Newswires, contributed to this report.
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http://idahobusinessreview.com/2013/11/21/idaho-hospitals-focus-on-family-as-luxury-trends-sweep-industry/[11/27/2013 9:06:50 AM]