From Competition to Collaboration: How a Multi-Firm Research Coalition Is Realizing Rigorous Facility Evaluation at Parkland Hospital

This case study presents the process of developing a multi-entity Research Coalition to evaluate the new Parkland Hospital. The field of evidence-based design has made progress in systematically investigating relationships between healthcare facility design and a range of human outcomes. Yet healthcare facility evaluation is not typically included in the scope of building contracts. Lack of clear responsibility for evaluation and limited funding have been long-term barriers that the industry has yet to overcome. Firms engaged in design research at Parkland Hospital agreed with hospital representatives to collaborate on an integrated facility evaluation. Each participating entity contributed resources toward the effort. To formalize shared goals and priorities, the group developed a Research Coalition Charter. Goals included streamlining evaluation efforts to minimize burden on the hospital, leveraging multiple expertise areas to vet research aims and approaches, contributing knowledge to inform healthcare design, and innovating a model for multi-firm collaboration. The Coalition also developed guidelines for sharing data and disseminating research findings. To date, the Research Coalition has achieved key milestones including institutional review board exemption, data use and research collaboration agreements, and data collection. The research aims encompass patient and staff outcomes hypothesized to improve in the new facility. Both primary and secondary data are being analyzed to test the hypotheses. Publications of findings are forthcoming. Collaborative research among competitors may be a viable approach to realizing evaluation that is critical to learning for healthcare facility decision makers and design practitioners.