Case study: NY hospitals go for hotel atmosphere

Like its peers elsewhere in the country, a New York-area health system has begun aggressive plans to upgrade its packaging, hoping to attract more patients by offering high-end amenities more typical of an upscale hotel. These include a dozen projects under way or recently completed by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. For example, rooms at the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset's $11 million, 22-bed medical-surgical unit offer wood paneling, comfortable chairs and prints on the walls and private bathrooms. The unit also features an in-unit café. Meanwhile, the system has also made changes such as the launch of its 13-bed cardiothoracic intensive care level, which includes large, privacy friendly rooms with a door rather than curtains and space for family members to visit. These changes are part of a $260 million expansion and redesign of facilities within the Long Island health system. NS-LIHGS CEO Michael Dowling says that these changes are critical to the future of the system: "If you want to be a premier place, you've got to think like that," he says.

To learn more about the patient-centered upgrades:
- read this piece from Newsday

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