A recap of the 2024 Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference

2024 ASHE President Skanda V. Skandaverl opens the inaugural Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference.

Image courtesy of ASHE

Advocating for health care infrastructure investment was a permeating theme at the 2024 Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference held in Anaheim, Calif., July 21-24. From general sessions focused on telling your story and shifting into a new leadership mindset, to breakout discussions on codes and standards advocacy and novel ways to leverage data, the first Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference put on by the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) featured four days of education accessible to a range of backgrounds, from beginner-level professionals to long-time experts pushing the boundary of what’s possible in health care facilities management. 

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The conference’s keynote speaker and sociologist Bertice Berry, Ph.D., kicked off the conference by cementing the importance of embracing a diversity of ideas to achieve a wider impact in health care operations. Attracting greater investment in health care infrastructure, requires facilities managers to tell the stories of their teams and facilities, and Berry shares four steps on how leaders can do just that.

1. Tell your story uninterrupted and without consideration of unnecessary details.
2. Don’t judge your story.
3. Allow your story to move you, and let people feel what you’re saying.
4. Allow your story to guide you into what really matters. 

The encourage to embrace a diversity of ideas carried through to each session thereafter. For instance, the conference held fishbowl discussions during some of the breakout sessions where attendees joined speakers in a roundtable sharing of ideas. One of the fishbowl discussions invited feedback on the new ASHRAE/ASHE Guideline 43, Operations Guideline for Ventilation of Health Care Facilities. Attendees heard from members of the Guideline 43 workgroup who explained its purpose while attendees shared ideas on how to improve the guideline based on real-world experiences.

On Day 2 of the conference, featured speaker Ryan Avery, an award-winning journalist and best selling author, challenged attendees to shift their mindsets from being “A” leader to being “THE” leader that their teams and organizations need. Avery cited the importance of word choice, body language and listening skills to connect with team members and executive leadership alike.

Connection and collaboration were also the focus in one of Tuesday’s breakout sessions titled “Balancing clinical needs with facility team needs in construction.” The session followed the journey of Atrium Health’s construction team and how it uses data and its organizational mission to weigh operational needs and clinical needs to select the best infrastructure solutions for both.

The final day of conference brought some of ASHE’s advocacy leaders to the main stage for the Just Ask ASHE general session to discuss its regulatory priorities in the coming year and answer attendees’ questions. Pressing topics included ensuring consistent and safe standards for medical gas storage requirements in the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code, keeping track of updates to the Facility Guidelines Institute’s 2026 Guidelines and continued discussion of Guideline 43.

The conference’s final general session continued the exploration between regulatory obstacles and health care operations with a discussion between Chad Beebe, AIA, CHFM, CFPS, CBO, FASHE, deputy executive director of ASHE Regulatory Affairs, and Austin Wallace, ASHE sustainability senior specialist. In their session titled “Overcoming CMS hurdles to decarbonization,” the two discussed the evolutions of health care, including oversight from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and climate change.

The speakers explained that in advocating for CMS to adopt newer codes and standards, they are also advocating for the allowance of newer technologies that will help in the decarbonization of health care facilities. The conference ended with a call to action, prompting attendees to send letters to federal representatives urging for the adoption of updated codes and standards.

ASHE will surely report any progress made in this area when next year’s Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference gathers in Columbus, Ohio, July 27-30, 2025. Sign up for conference updates to stay in the know.