Healthcare Design - April 2017 - 31

branded to the associated health system, but
two facilities in Houston remain under the
Emerus name. Probasco says the company's
approach is to use a retail-focused distribution model that capitalizes on patients' desire
for convenience in the delivery of healthcare
services.
Emerus' baseline facility is 18,000 square
feet with seven to eight emergency bays on
one side, a central area with storage and nursing, and inpatient rooms on the other side.
Most of its sites also have a second floor for
medical offices. Typical hospital procedure
areas, such as imaging rooms, are located near
the entrance so that one of the first things a
patient sees upon entering is the same equipment they'd see in a larger hospital. "When a
patient presents in one of our facilities, they
know they are going to a hospital and not an
urgent care facility," Probasco says.

EMERUS

S I Z E M AT T E R S

Microhospitals aren't used to handle high-acuity patients, such as trauma cases, so patient
care areas are simplified and room sizes, including for exam, triage, and treatment, can
be reduced. For example, Minneapolis-based
AECOM is working with a health system to
develop a 13-bed microhospital, with ORs that
will measure close to 500 square feet. "In a

TOP AND ABOVE: The floor
plans for SCL Health
in Westminster, Colo.,
show a typical Emerus
model, with seven to
eight emergency bays on
one side, an area with
storage and nursing,
and inpatient rooms on
the other side. OPPOSITE,
TOP: This rendering shows
a typical microhospital
building design used
by E4H Environments
for Health Architecture.
The design of the round
entry section can be
swapped for a square
section. OPPOSITE, BOTTOM:
The Baylor Emergency
Medical Center at
Rockwall, in Rockwall,
Texas, measures 36,000
square feet and was
designed by Emerus.

large hospital, it would be hard for us to do an OR below 700 square feet
because of the equipment that is needed," says Matt Sanders, a principal
at AECOM (Minneapolis). The facility's single-bed patient rooms will
also be smaller, at 325 square feet, compared to those being built at the
health system's new main hospital, which average 350-375 square feet.
Providers still must make room for code mandates, though, such as
handwashing sinks and storage, or those features that patients have
come to expect, including family zones. "We're just designing these patient rooms more efficiently and tighter," Sanders says. "On our smaller facilities, it's a challenge to be at the bare minimum to reduce cost.
Grouping bathrooms and major infrastructure elements can help in being as efficient as possible."
Because there's less square footage overall, providers are also reducing public areas, such as waiting rooms, while others are saving space
and money by opting to forgo full-service kitchens and instead bringing in food for inpatients from nearby restaurants or a main hospital.
"Kitchens are expensive to build," says Rod Booze, a partner at E4H En-

APRIL 2017

Healthcare Design - April 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - April 2017