Case Studies

Rx for a Successful Healthcare Project, Part 2

This article is included in the Great Things: Issue 4 edition of the DPR Newsletter.

Illustrative examples of the 9 Key indicators for Rx Success


Healthcare construction teams pivoted in light of COVID-19, adapting to new project protocols ranging from physical distancing, emergency measures, collaboration technologies and video conferencing practices. The core behaviors behind a successful team, however, have not changed and understanding what factors influence a project’s success has only become more important.

“We won’t get new behaviors if we don’t do something different,” said Hamilton Espinosa, one of DPR Construction’s healthcare core market leaders. “Taking a look at project delivery and the roles every project partner has played on successful projects provides a roadmap to the results every stakeholder envisions when conceiving a project.”

In 2018, DPR embarked on a journey to understand the key indicators that will lead to successful healthcare projects by studying seven projects in California. The results from the 2018 study indicated identifiable patterns for success and pinpointed 9 Key Indicators for Project Success, an “Rx for Success.”

“True to our Ever Forward value and in a spirit of continual improvement, we dove further into these leading success indicators for projects and studied an additional nine significant healthcare projects across the Unites States,” said Sean Ashcroft, another DPR healthcare core market leader. “The results of this study supported and refined the 9 Key Indicators for Project Success and provide our partners with a valuable roadmap as they consider what’s next for their communities and the care facilities that support them.”

All projects included in Part 2 of the Rx for a Successful Healthcare Project study were completed prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic which has caused many project teams to modify how they collaborate. As DPR’s research continues, the aim is to better understand how using the best practices and behaviors that underlie these 9 Key Indicators can enable project success for future healthcare construction (and any environment.)

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