IFHE Cocktail Reception

Hospital Outpatient Department (HOPD) designation can unlock strategic, financial, and clinical advantages for health systems—but it also fundamentally reshapes how ambulatory surgery environments are planned, designed, and operated.

This highly interactive 4-hour workshop goes beyond definitions to explore the real-world implications of HOPD and ASC designation across planning, design, operations, and revenue cycle. Participants will examine how regulatory frameworks (FGI, NFPA 99/101, CMS provider-based rules) influence everything from occupancy classification and essential electrical systems to patient flow, sterile processing, and survey readiness.

Through a guided, team-based scenario exercise, participants will apply concepts to determine whether an HOPD, or ASC model best aligns with defined clinical, financial, and community parameters. Groups will evaluate trade-offs, defend their decisions, and learn from peer perspectives.

Participants will leave with a practical decision framework, project-start checklist, and peer-tested strategies to align capital investment, compliance, and throughput goals—while reducing redesign risk.

Presented by the Nursing Institute of Healthcare Design

The Ochsner Health Neuroscience Center of Excellence is the next major building expanding Ochsner’s 2010 Master plan for transforming their New Orleans Campus. The 5-story building opening fall of 2026, supports 25 neurological and psychological specialties, rehabilitation, and behavioral health under one roof with new services for children and adults.

The tour will begin with a brief presentation where Ochsner clinical, operational, facilities, and design leaders will share how human-centered design, technology integration, and partnerships support patient experience, staff resilience, and long-range campus planning. Participants will then be divided into small groups for a guided tour of key interior and exterior spaces.

Tour stops will include healing garden with therapeutic outdoor space; the main lobby connecting 3D printing lab, AR/VR environments for integrated technology and education; music and alternative therapies space; and Team Gleason showroom highlighting adaptive technologies for patients with ALS; rehabilitation areas including gym and zero-entry therapy pool specialized for spinal injuries; the behavioral health floor; the neuroscience clinical floor; and a dedicated staff respite space designed to support caregiver well-being.