The American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) and Health Facilities Management (HFM) magazine recently published the results of its annual Healthcare Construction Survey, in which they surveyed 8,562 hospital and health system executives and third-party architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to learn about healthcare construction trends. The survey is conducted annually, and it often uncovers key themes related to hospital and healthcare capital planning priorities and challenges.
Three Key Takeaways Shaping Healthcare Construction Trends from the 2026 ASHE Survey
This year’s findings reinforced three interconnected challenges Aptitude sees in the field frequently: gaps in how healthcare technology decisions are made, why security and other system planning must start early and involve more stakeholders from the impacted groups, and how hospitals are increasingly leaning on technology to fill staffing gaps or automate tasks. All three of these challenges point to the importance of improving how health systems approach construction projects – and whom they enlist to champion important capital expansion and renovation projects.
Healthcare Technology Decisions Need More Than IT Alone
Often, an organization’s information technology (IT) staff is tasked with leading the charge to find solutions for all technology-related needs. Yet increasingly, there must be a committee of stakeholders from multiple departments engaged to achieve better outcomes. When survey respondents were asked how they evaluate new building automation and technology tools, more than a third said they rely solely on their IT department to make those decisions, while about half reported using a cross-departmental committee of stakeholders.
“The good news is that half of respondents are on the right track involving a committee of those impacted, but this means that the onus to clearly understand how end users will interact with systems is on the IT team even though they may be far removed from the clinical or facilities staff workflow,” said John Cooper, Healthcare and East Region Operations Director for Aptitude.
The gap between IT expertise and on-the-ground clinical or facilities reality is where projects can go sideways. A technology solution that looks solid on paper may fall short when it doesn’t account for how nurses, facilities managers, or other end users operate daily. This is why it’s imperative for end users to be a part of the technology planning, decision-making, and design process long before construction starts. A technology integrator or master systems integrator (MSI) who doesn’t have allegiance to a particular vendor or system can be an effective way to help corral the needs of a large committee of stakeholders and ensure there is a clear roadmap for technology integration. “When healthcare clients bring in a technology integration leader who can advocate for all stakeholders and who understands the end user needs as much as they understand how the technology systems operate, everyone wins,” said Cooper.
Cybersecurity Planning Should Start Earlier in Healthcare Construction
One of the survey’s most urgent findings was the need to bring both security and facilities teams into planning, design, and construction (PDC) conversations much earlier than is currently common practice. Healthcare facilities are facing growing security threats, both physical and cybersecurity-related; the decisions made throughout a construction or renovation project can play a pivotal role in either supporting or undermining a facility’s security posture. If security professionals aren’t at the table when design decisions are being made, this can lead to a need for costly changes, or worse, vulnerabilities are baked into the finished building.
“The security staff is a key stakeholder group, just like the clinical staff or the facilities and operations staff has to be invited to planning and design conversations early,” said Cooper. “I’ve seen project delays, swaths of design missed, and projects miss the mark of their original intent when everyone impacted isn’t a part of planning discussions.”
Cooper also notes that his team is regularly asked to come back and update building systems, such as security, when the dust has barely settled post-construction when technology planning was not thoroughly addressed early on.
Technology Is Helping Hospitals Respond to Staffing Gaps
Another data point from this year’s survey that affirmed trends our teams are seeing was a surge in patient monitoring system upgrades. HFM points to AI, wireless sensors, and wearable technology as drivers of this shift, along with an ongoing shortage of clinical staff pushing hospitals to look to technology to help carry the load. Aptitude can confirm that this is consistent with an overall healthcare construction trend in which owners hope the promises of better technology will ease workloads and create operational efficiency or even help gather data.
Cooper cautions that technology alone isn’t a silver bullet. “Technology can be helpful for filling workload gaps or automating portions of workflow, but only when it’s thoughtfully planned and integrated,” he said. “This is an example of why having a systems integrator, someone who is vendor agnostic and advocating for all stakeholders, is crucial for making sure the technology functions as intended.”
The Common Thread – Complexity Demands Coordination
Across all three findings, a single theme emerges: the complexity of modern healthcare facility projects demands a more inclusive, coordinated approach to technology planning. This is true whether the challenge is evaluating the right technology, designing for security, or integrating systems to support an overburdened clinical workforce. The organizations that bring the right collection of voices to the table early and have an experienced, unbiased advocate guiding the process are the ones best positioned to succeed.
Aptitude was a sponsor of this survey. The full HFM article about healthcare construction trends and the survey results can be found here.
Planning a healthcare construction project? Aptitude offers healthcare technology planning, consulting, design, technology integration, project management, and more. Contact us at info@aptitudeii.com if you’d like to learn more about our approach to delivering smart hospitals.