The project: Provide a healthcare information technology (HIT) vision for a new pediatric campus (NPC)—a joint venture between University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health to create a premier children’s hospital driven by its own culture, processes, and information technology systems.

Project goal: The new pediatric campus is to be the “go-to” world- class pediatric hospital within the Dallas area with innovative, state-of-the art equipment and technologies. With this in mind, the owners encouraged the design and planning committee to start from a blank slate when designing and selecting the information technology. The underlying philosophy was that the NPC would have all-new information technology and equipment; no existing IT/equipment or technology would come from the old hospital other than the electronic medical record (EMR).

Key features of the new hospital will include:

  • A 552-bed hospital with future expansion capabilities
  • An emergency department with 114 bays
  • 96-bed Level IV NICU
  • Services supporting a new labor and delivery program that will include approximately 30 beds
  • An administrative building for clinical and support staff
  • An ambulatory care facility with approximately 96 exam rooms
  • A central utility/thermal plant to support the entire campus
  • 6,500 covered parking spaces
  • Two helipads

Visioning approach: IMEG’s HIT Advisory Services team strategized, advised, and identified the IT solutions that will be required for the new facility and ensured it is designed to support future technology and end-user requirements. In addition to its HIT team, IMEG provided a broad array of experts to facilitate the project, including staff from the firm’s technology, acoustics, security, and medical equipment planning services, as well as external clinical specialists (a pediatric physician and a nurse educator).

Project deliverables: IMEG completed a current-state assessment to understand present challenges with the existing hospital environment; future-state visioning to identify future end-user requirements; and a technology road map aligned to the construction schedule. In addition, IMEG developed an initial technology program to support the ongoing technology program management and participated in schematic design sessions. Thus, the project involved the identification of all information technology required to support the new facility, including:

  • Alternative Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (ER)
  • Ambient in-room voice recognition
  • Digital solutions (white boards, wayfinding, art)
  • Kiosks
  • Mobile communications and devices (phones, tablets, etc.)
  • Patient education/entertainment systems
  • Robotics
  • RTLS/RFID
  • Telehealth
  • Wireless technologies

Expected outcome: Upon completion, the NPC will be named the Moody Children’s Hospital and will provide leading-edge care, emerging treatments, and the infrastructure to transform health- care for the most complex pediatric patients. It also will serve as a hub for innovations, academic research, and the development of lifesaving technologies for children for decades to come.