To successfully develop and implement a strategic facility master plan, healthcare leaders must be able to identify, analyze, and communicate a facility vision that is fully integrated with the overall strategic, operational, and financial context of the healthcare institution. This can be a daunting task and is one that often times loses sight of important components, while spending time and resources focusing on less critical issues. This session will synthesize the ideal strategic master planning process by evaluating five critical tool groups to ensure success. By utilizing proven tools for team development, data collection, information analysis, decision making, and communication, anyone that is involved with healthcare facility master planning will be better prepared to contribute to a more meaningful and efficient planning outcome at their institution.

All successful engagements begin with selecting the right team. Consisting of both external resources (consultants, design team, etc.) and internal resources including senior management, facility personnel, and clinical staff, in our experience the most successful teams look beyond traditional titles within healthcare organizations to those staff members that have influence. A dynamic team is critical to creating a vision for the master plan, but more importantly, this team becomes the "sales and marketing" team later in the process when the optimal plan is implemented.

Before implementation can occur, the process of data collection and analysis must begin. This is the time to challenge assumptions, uncover hidden stakeholders, and understand the quality of existing and projected data. We are often confronted with facilities that have very limited data but want tremendous analyses of it, or facilities with exceptional data uninterested in using it to inform the outcome of their master plan. The key is to arrive at a common understanding of data needs and expectations early in the process, focusing particular attention on the needs of the external or regulatory audiences that might require certain data analyses to approve a project.

Once the data has been acquired and analyzed, and the options for development have been presented, we must focus on helping clients through their decision making process in selecting the optimal plan. We strive to insert some level of objectivity in this phase, using quantitative tools to represent what might typically be thought of as subjective feelings. By trying to remove the emotion from solutions and establishing a long term plan for a hospital campus or system, we strive to avoid solutions focused on satisfying a single squeaky wheel at the expense of the big picture. By adhering to a rigorous process, grounded in quantitative measures and reflective of a long range vision, we have seen even the most ardent critics who might not originally embrace the optimal plan come around to embrace the common good.

The most important tool in our process is in the communication of results. In actuality, communication is not the final tool, but a tool that begins from the very beginning of an engagement. Recalling our "sales and marketing" team of senior executives and influential players in an organization, we must hone the organizational message to resonate with all constituents. The key in this stage is to deliver the same core message to all groups, but using means, methods, and terminologies specific to each group. Financial regulators require one type of presentation regarding the ROI of a project, whereas the clinical staff requires a must different presentation. Neighbors and community leaders require still another approach to presenting how the organizations selected master plan will benefit them. All of these presentations however, must not lose sight of the overall goals of the organization and must genuinely represent the same concept.