From even the most cursory glance at the program guide for next month's International Conference and Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design and Construction, one can discern that the world of hospital project delivery is rife with choices.
While health facility ground breakings have traditionally been borne through the time-tested design-bid-build approach, other proven methods like design-build, construction management, at-risk construction management and innumerable permutations have gained popularity over the past several years.
The competition between the different methods and those promoting them has been fierce, especially since health care construction activity started its current upswing.
However, as many of these industry players will tell you, each has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on economic conditions, the type of project, the health care organization's ownership and management team and other variables. The potential for customization of the approaches is also high, depending on prevailing conditions.
In fact, it sometimes appears that hospital design and construction professionals are becoming almost as versatile at designing project delivery packages for hospitals as they have been at designing health care facilities themselves.
So, for this month's cover story, we decided to talk to a few of these professionals and their customers to relate how some of these arrangements have worked out in the field.
Admittedly, it's a small sample, and the article's sidebar will give you additional sources to explore, but it will at least give you a starting point as you focus on making your own decision.
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This article first appeared in the February 2004 issue of HFM.
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