Ambulatory Care Facility Planning – Part II
Ambulatory Care Facility Planning – Part II
Regulatory requirements and their impact on the design and equipment
Like any other healthcare arena, the proposed ambulatory care will require data in order to manage patients’ care. Through the Health care Portability and accountability Act of 1996, six codes are required. First, the current procedural terminology or CPT describes physicians and health providers’ medical procedures. In the proposed ambulatory care facility, healthcare services will be provided from a large health care clinic with organize medical staff. There will be around six medical professionals. This would be beneficial in the facilitation of services on a 24 hour basis and to ensure that the mobile ambulatory care services have a professional on standby. This group of physicians will share office space, equipment, personnel and records.
The proposed ambulatory healthcare facility is intended to serve both adults and children, and people from all socioeconomic classes. The healthcare common procedure coding system or HCPCS code will be used to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries and individuals registered in private healthcare insurance programs are attended. In this case, the products, services, supplies and procedures codes will be designed for uniform reporting. An office will be set apart to deal with Medicare and private insurance patients. Since patients will require pharmaceutical services, the National Drug Code or NDC, will require that all pharmaceuticals be identified in details including packaging. This means that the floor plan must include a pharmacy with its own subsystem for drugs management.
Within the ambulatory care environment, several applications will be needed. These are billing, registration, receivable accounts, patient, payable accounts, and staff scheduling and managed care functionality (Weebly, 2012). This is part of the regulatory requirements that healthcare facilities encompass electronic health records. Careful documentation of patient care within the ambulatory setting is the source of data for managing care. As a result, documentation is remarkably critical especially in coordinating treatment, use of collected data in healthcare research, and protection of patient’s, physicians’ and ambulatory care facility’s legal interests. In this case, equipment like computers and printers will be needed. In addition, internet connectivity will be required to ensure that patient records are managed through a healthcare information system.
The facility will deal with so much healthcare waste. Waste disposal will be required for effective environmental management free from hazards. In this location, the neighborhood is filled with residential apartments. This means that pollution of the environment through smell, noise and harmful chemicals should be prevented. All dumpsters shall be within the ambulatory care institution far from patients. The dumpsters shall be covered, and placed on concrete slabs with enough water supplies to facilitate cleaning (Weebly, 2012). The facility will have firefighting equipment to enforce fire safety rules and regulations in National Fire Protection Association fire Codes through Joint commission on Accreditation of healthcare organizations or JCAHO.
Color selection implications and noise issues
An ambulatory care facility should be designed in such a way that it enhances patient comfort and contribute to positive patient healing process (DVA, 2009). This requires that an ambulatory care facility be designed to such that its image surrounds the patient with furnishings and finishes that are not life-threatening. In other words, the ambulatory care facility should appeal to the sensibilities and spirit of patients and care providers. Color is one element that allows ambulatory care institutions to become part of patient therapy. In most cases, color selected for ambulatory ceilings and walls should offer illumination (DVA, 2009). In the lobby are of the ambulatory care facility, textile combination shall be resolute and rich. The carpet shall combine various upholstery colors with no frills, fussy details or irrelevant patterns. This design is clean and intended to offer warmth. Patient stress levels are eased by colors that are easier on the eyes like green. Apart from patient rooms, color coding will be observed for other regulations like firefighting equipment.
Within the ambulatory care facility, noise shall be reduced through the provision of natural lighting, access to soft music and nature views (DVA, 2009). Patients at the lobby, for instance, will be entertained by soft music and natural lighting resulting from elaborate lobby glass windows. Patients will also have access to cabinetry storing books and other useful health magazines to divert the patients’ attention and relieve them from tension. Within facility rooms, patients shall also have access to nature through indoor gardens, views of the landscape and natural light. Natural light during the day, room artwork, music and soft water sounds shall provide positive distractions to decrease patients’ stress. Different consultation and treatment rooms will be separately set to ensure that noises coming from any of them do not distract patients by adding to their stress and tension levels.
Types of equipment needed
$1· Patient examination beds
$1· Storage cabinets
$1· Reception furniture – desks, tables, waiting chairs
$1· Office furniture
$1· Medical transport equipment like Thomas Stretcher, lateral patient air transfer.
$1· Medical imaging like x-ray image intensifier and X-ray microtomography
$1· Plumbing equipment for water and waste systems and gas systems
$1· Air conditioning equipment and firefighting equipment
$1· Refrigeration equipment
Electronic items needed
$1· Illumination through fluorescent luminaries for room, corridor, undershelf, and other lighting requirements
$1· Communication through telephones in provided in each room
$1· Television outlets in waiting rooms, and therapy treatment cubicles.
$1· Security duress alarms to seek attention for emergency assistance, control and monitoring by patients
$1· Public address system for mass notifications especially at lobby rooms.
$1· Speakers for public address and television and music purposes shall be located on corridors and all institution public places
$1· Computers equipped with printers, a scanner and paper shredder.
$1· Networking -internet cables, sockets switch, modems
Budget planning and cost estimates
| Equipment | Estimated costs ($) |
| Lighting-fluorescents, lamps, lighting stands and fixtures | 70 |
| Communication-telephones, public address, speakers, televisions, security duress alarms, | 200 |
| Information technology-computers, printers, scanner, paper shredder | 400 |
| 280 | |
| Furniture – desks, tables, waiting chairs | 500 |
| Medical transport like Thomas Stretcher, lateral patient air transfer. | 650 |
| Medical imaging like x-ray image intensifier and X-ray microtomography | 1000 |
| Plumbing equipment for water and waste systems and gas systems | 400 |
| Air conditioning equipment and firefighting equipment | 750 |
| Refrigeration equipment | 650 |
Role of stakeholders in facility planning and development
The facility stakeholders include owners, patients, local and federal government. Local government will influence facility planning through the use of local building and construction regulations that have to be followed for local residential planning uniformity. Requirements such as waste disposals and public washrooms will be provided further from the ambulatory facility due to pollution and contamination (DVA, 2009). Patients’ access to services will require that essential way finding process for visitors and institution staff. All these persons need to know where they are, their destination, how to get to the destination and posses an ability to get back. For exchange of data between payers and providers, such as claims, submittals and remittances, the ambulatory facility this means there will be an electronic data interchange or EDI.
References
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