Robot food and blanket delivery. Automated wheelchairs. Voice-activated control of window blinds. Holographic doctors. Hospitals are going high-tech as the beginning of an innovation revolution comes to healthcare. The possibilities seem nearly endless. But with so many options and so much potential upside, choosing what to invest in is a challenge. So far, implementation has been “rugged,” Page principal Joan Albert said at Bisnow’s Healthcare South event at the Houston Marriott Medical Center on Sept. 8. New technology comes with new pain points and the risk of wasting time, money and space, and panelists said architects, developers and hospital operators need to be savvy about what technology they implement in their facilities. “Innovation and bleeding edge makes me nervous because we all know how frustrated we get when our phones don’t work, right?” Texas Children’s Hospital Senior Vice President of Facilities Planning and Development Jill Pearsall said. “If you make the building too smart, [patients] are just going to be frustrated.” 
Technology can solve a lot of problems. New tools can help offset the significant labor shortage and make staff’s lives easier, improve the patient experience and their care, and keep facilities online during natural disasters.Artificial intelligence is starting to come…  Read the full story here. | 
