Reframing ‘Sustainability’ for 2026: How Efficient Design Prioritizes Performance, People, and Profitability

Investing in facility upgrades, renovations, or modernization is essential in keeping pace with the latest treatment advances and rising employee and patient expectations in a competitive market. 

With the ever-increasing cost of care, tight reimbursements, and workforce challenges, healthcare leaders face pressure to prioritize efficiency and reduce costs at every opportunity. Every capital project is expected to and should deliver unprecedented value, serving not just as a building update but as an investment in the healthcare organization’s long-term future.

In this context, sustainability has come to mean more than implementing energy saving practices. It’s an opportunity to bolster the long-term effectiveness of the organization itself. Smart design strategies that improve efficiency, reduce waste, strengthen resilience, and create environments that better serve staff, patients, and the community are investments in longevity.

Approaching projects through this lens that prioritizes people and performance shifts sustainability from a “nice-to-have” add-on to an essential operational strategy with bottom-line business benefits. Beyond protecting the environment, it enables healthcare leaders to protect the organization’s long-term health by maximizing the value from every design investment.

Reframing Sustainability as a Business Benefit

To succeed in 2026 and beyond, healthcare leaders are reframing the way they think about sustainability. Instead of limiting the conversation to green operations in the traditional sense (i.e., installing solar panels, recycling initiatives, or reducing plastics), leaders are focusing on the measurable business benefits of efficient facility design. 

Here are five ways we’re seeing sustainable design strategies deliver compelling benefits, along with some low-cost, high-value tactics that optimize organizational performance.

1. Reduce long-term operational cost. While some sustainable design practices can increase a project’s initial capital expenditures to a small degree, the long-term, operational-expenditures savings can outweigh the upfront investment. 

Smart design strategy includes analyzing existing workflows to determine how they might be reconfigured to improve efficiency before a new design even begins. This may result in reducing the overall structural footprint of a project, generating tremendous upfront and long-term savings in materials, utilities, and maintenance. 

Reconfiguring workflows to save time and steps for staff can also translate to faster response, less waiting time, more attentive care, shorter length of stay, and higher patient and employee satisfaction, all of which have a measurable impact on the bottom line. Incorporating Lean operations has been shown to increase surgical capacity by 15% and monthly patient volumes by 65%, while reducing 30-day readmission rates, adverse events, and operating costs up to 80%.

Op-ex can also be reduced through simple choices like using low-flow faucets, dual-flush toilets, LED lighting, occupancy sensors, and smart thermostats to conserve energy, and strategic window placement to maximize natural daylight, lower lighting demand, and leverage solar heating. Optimizing the exterior envelope with durable materials, proper insulation and adequate weather sealing can reduce HVAC and energy load.

2. Improve patient outcomes through better environmental design. Facilities that prioritize the overall patient experience and holistic healthcare see improved patient outcomes. 

For example, single-patient room design is not only more comfortable and provides a less disruptive healing environment, but also significantly reduces the risk of infections. The use of natural materials and biophilic design has been shown to reduce length of stay, patient mortality, and perceived pain levels, while supporting faster recovery.

Designing for acoustic comfort with sound-dampening materials and strategically placing patient rooms and doors away from high-traffic areas reduces disturbances, lowers stress, and allows patients to rest, contributing to shorter stays, fewer complications, and better outcomes.

Finally, chronic exposure to the off-gassing of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals in construction materials can cause respiratory issues and allergic distress for both patients and staff, earning them a spot on the Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List. Selecting more natural, low-VOC materials, such as wood, rock wool, or soy-based products, and choosing third-party-certified materials with published Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can help you source safer materials.

3. Bolster staff performance and retention with design that supports workforce needs. Sustainable design is crucial for staff retention, making it a critical cost-control strategy. With the average cost of turnover for just one RN position now over $61,000 a year, even a single point reduction in RN turnover can save the average hospital nearly $300,000 per year.
   
   Given the direct impact of staff shortages on increased costs, facilities must focus on providing a top-tier workplace environment. Low-profile, high-impact adjustments such as daylight, plants, fresh air, and access to outdoor space improve staff well-being and productivity while reducing stress and absenteeism, strengthening care quality, recruitment, and retention.

4. Stay ahead of mandates and build future readiness by proactively designing for adaptability. Several emerging industry guidelines are voluntary for now but may become mandatory in the future. Preparing to adapt to potential changes is crucial. 

For example, the Joint Commission’s Sustainable Healthcare framework provides best practices and a certification, and the National Academy of Medicine has launched a Climate Grand Challenge aimed at reducing the healthcare sector’s impact on the climate and improving climate resilience.

Designing to these frameworks early reduces costly retrofits later, allowing teams to plan deliberately, budget proactively, and protect operations and patient care rather than reacting under pressure.

Additionally, thoughtful design supports future resilience by boosting energy independence and operational continuity. Efficient building systems reduce reliance on volatile energy markets, improve cost predictability, and support long-term operational stability. Resilient facilities are better prepared for extreme weather, pandemics, or grid failures. By reducing downtime and risk to patient care, these facilities can become “community anchors of trust.”

5. Establish brand leadership and market differentiation as a sustainable practice leader. Healthcare is already a competitive market, and studies show that organizations that make the holistic wellness of patients, staff, visitors, and the community a priority are more successful. 

Seventy percent of consumers prefer environmentally responsible providers, and 80% believe sustainability should be a priority for healthcare organizations—more than double the number from a year ago. 

Sustainable Design Is Future-Ready

Beyond traditional green practices, designing for sustainability is about saving money and optimizing for the future. Establishing a strong brand as an organization that prioritizes the health of the community, patients, and the planet is an investment in business growth that pays both immediate and long-term dividends.

In the face of mounting financial pressures this year, sustainability will be less of a performance luxury and instead, become an operational imperative. Embrace the new definition of sustainability now to differentiate your brand as a leader and future-proof your operations.

Image Source: ID 67609416 | Modern Hospital ©
Luca Lorenzelli | Dreamstime.com