Modeling the performance of healthcare construction projects

Purpose

Healthcare-sector projects are some of the most complex in modern practice due to their reliance on high-tech components and the level of precision they must maintain. Existing literature in healthcare performance specifically is scarce, but there is a recent increasing trend in both healthcare construction and a corresponding trend in related literature. No previously existing study has derived weights (relative importance) of performance metric in an objective, data-based manner. The purpose of this paper is to present a newly developed mathematical model that derives these weights, free of subjectivity that is common in other literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper’s model considers 17 exceptional projects and 19 average projects, and reveals the weights (or relative importance) of ten performance metrics by comparing how projects relate to one another in terms of each metric individually. It solves an eigenvalue problem that maximizes the difference between average and exceptional project performances.

Findings

The most significant weight, i.e. the performance metric which has the greatest impact on healthcare project performance, was request for information per million dollars with a weight of 16.07 percent. Other highly weighted metrics included construction speed and schedule growth at 13.08 and 12.23 percent, respectively. Rework was the least significant metric at 3.61 percent, but not all metrics of quality had low ratings. Deficiency issues per million dollars was weighted at 11.61 percent, for example. All weights derived by the model in this paper were validated statistically to ensure their applicability as comparison and assessment tools.

Originality/value

There is no widely accepted measure of project performance specific to healthcare construction. This study’s contribution to the body of knowledge is its mathematical model which is a landmark effort to develop a single, objective, unified project performance index for healthcare construction. Furthermore, this unified score presents a user-friendly avenue for contractors to standardize their productivity tracking – a missing piece in the practices of many contractors.