Planning, design, and building for health services.

Robert Douglass discusses why and how this issue was compiled and notes that, regardless of the state of the health care industry (i.e., in a mode of expansion or retrenchment), health facilities will always change, and construction will be a fact of life. Educating health care executives about the health facilities development process (with all its individual but interrelated components and phases) is important in order to assist these executives in minimizing risk and achieving success in their own projects. He also gives the reader an "executive overview" of the health facilities development process, outlines several key factors for administrative control in virtually every health facility project, and offers specific suggestions for executive leaders seeking excellence in health facility development.