Adding value by hospital real estate: An exploration of Dutch practice

Objectives: To explore how hospital real estate can add value to the health care organisation , which values are prioritized in practice, and why.
Background: Dutch healthcare organisations are self-responsible for the costs and benefits of their accommodation. Meanwhile, a lively debate is going on about possible added values of corporate and public real estate in the fields of Corporate Real Estate Management and Facility Management. This paper connects both worlds and compares insights from literature with experiences from practice.
Methods: Added Values extracted from literature have been discussed with 15 CEOs and project leaders of recently newly build hospitals in the Netherlands. Interviewees were asked: (1) which values are included in the design and management of their hospital and why; (2) to prioritize most important values from a list of nine predefined values and; (3) to explain how the chosen real estate decisions are supposed to support organisational objectives.
Results: Stimulating innovation, user satisfaction and improving organisational culture are most highly valued, followed by improving productivity, reducing building costs and creating building flexibility. Image, risk control and financing possibilities got lower rankings. The findings have been used to develop a value-impact matrix that connects nine values to various stakeholders and possible interventions.
Conclusion: The findings and the value-impact matrix can make different stakeholders aware of many possible added values of hospital real estate, potential synergy and conflicts between different values, and how to steer on value add in different phases of the life cycle.