Containing costs through effective facilities planning.
Effective facilities planning can help healthcare organizations contain costs by ensuring that new building projects will bring a return on investment and reflect efficient operating practices. To fulfill this role in cost-containment, facilities planning must take into account important trends in healthcare delivery. These trends include declining inpatient utilization, declining ancillary utilization, integration of providers and services, development of new technologies for patient care and service, development of automated information systems, and use of contracted services.