Web site aims to help outdated safety net facilities

A new Web site aims to help community health centers and other safety-net clinics plan upgrades to their facilities.

The Web site launches just as federal stimulus dollars have become available to renovate or build new clinic facilities nationwide.

The not-for-profit Center for Health Design, of Concord, Calif., and the California HealthCare Foundation, or CHCF, in Oakland, produced the Web site, which offers case studies, evidence-based design strategies and advice.

Many health clinics “operate in outdated facilities, such as offices or residences built for other purposes, which affects patient safety, efficiency and the quality of care,” said Melissa Schoen, senior program officer at the CHCF, which funded the Web site.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, enacted in February, included $1.5 billion to fund facility and infrastructure upgrades for community health centers nationwide. That funding became available in August.

Showcased on the site are nine clinics that the Center for Health Design and an independent advisory body deemed examples of how to solve real-world problems in innovative ways. One example is La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland, Calif., which opened in 2003 and is part of a transit-centered urban village in a predominantly Latino neighborhood.

The Web site also includes a literature review of the evidence around ambulatory-care facility design.

"As awareness of evidence-based design increases and the body of evidence grows, more people have sought to build acute-care hospitals with the guidance of those skilled in the practice," said Debra Levin, president and CEO of the center. "Thanks to support from CHCF, we are able to provide the same kind of tools and resources to the clinic community."

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