Implementing Healthcare Excellence: The Vital Role of the CEO in Evidence-Based Design

There is growing evidence that chief executive officers (CEOs) can use research-validated evidence-based design (EBD) features as a tool to transform healthcare safety and quality. This paper explores how successful CEOs were able to navigate the multiyear process of project development. The utilization of EBD to create a building that supports cultural transformation and care redesign can reduce patient and staff harm and stress and still improve the bottom line. The CEOs of successful projects were the pivotal leaders who inspired their organizations to measure and confront unacceptable patient and staff outcomes, established strategies to meet improvement goals, and required disciplined reengineering of clinical and business processes—resulting in the achievement of the organizations’ desired end state.

This paper also identifies 10 strategies that reflect the systems thinking and leadership approaches shared by CEOs who bridged the gap between aspiration and reality. They used daily decision-making and team-shaping opportunities over the lifecycle of the building to create a genuinely healing environment.