Healthcare: A Closer Look - Jan/Feb 07

By Darius Helm

Healthcare is the market of the future. Modernization and an aging population have not only led to new models for healthcare, but are also driving big growth in that market. Demand for green products is rising, particularly in acute care, and the influx of baby boomers poised to join the senior living community will help drive renovation projects long into the foreseeable future.

The healthcare market not only requires high performance flooring, but it also requires specialized flooring and specialized design. In fact, the needs of that market are so diverse and complex they require specific client oriented solutions to a higher degree than in other commercial flooring sectors. But it’s a lucrative market and flooring producers are increasingly offering specialized high performance products to capture marketshare.

In many ways, the 21st century healthcare market is a new frontier. Just about the only thing it has in common with healthcare of decades past is the clientele. Hospitals across the country are being entirely revamped, due to obsolete design, new approaches to patient care and changes in insurance systems. In the senior living arena, nursing homes have become a thing of the past. They’ve been replaced by retirement communities sharing a campus with assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities for the older and more disabled residents.

Healthcare is really two fairly distinct markets, acute care and senior living. Though they share some characteristics, they play different roles and have very different needs. Both markets demand products with prominent performance attributes, like moisture and stain resistance and easy maintenance. Carpet and vinyl are the most common products used in both areas.

The clientele, however, can be very different. Senior living clients are elderly, while acute care patients are generally a mix of old and young, with not so many in between. To gain a good understanding of the layout of today’s healthcare market, it makes sense to look at both of these segments separately.

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