Steelcase's Medical Breakthrough

The office furniture giant jumps into the growing health-care market with Nurture, a line of patient-friendly furnishings

by Reena Jana

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The recent patient-care debacle at Walter Reed Army Medical Center accentuates the trend of medical consumerism—of patients demanding both better medical care and better hospital experiences. A critical attitude among so-called "medical consumers"—as patients are now often referred to by industrial designers, health-care administrators, and economists alike—is on the rise.

They're asking questions and shopping around for not only adequate, but exceptional, care. And as hospitals vie for business, they're remaking their interiors to make that care more comfortable and efficient. It's a new market that companies not traditionally in the health industry are hoping to break into. One of these is Steelcase (SCS), a leading office furniture manufacturer, that last year launched a new health-care-focused subsidiary called Nurture.

"Four or five years ago, the average person never heard of the national medical error rate. Now we hear about it all the time in the media," observes Jan Carlson, vice-president of product development and marketing at Nurture. "These reports [such as the 1999 watershed study from the Institute of Medicine indicating that up to 98,000 U.S. patients die annually due to medical errors], and more recently stories about Walter Reed, are absolutely driving extreme change in the design of outpatient and inpatient environments and equipment."

Upsurge in Upgrades

Nurture was founded in May, 2006, when Steelcase executives were simply seeking to diversify its product offerings to sustain the company's overall growth. The health-care industry seemed a logical new market. Legislation and statistics indicated an imminent spike in hospital construction and renovations.

California's Hospital Seismic Safety Act mandates all acute-care hospitals in California to complete earthquake-proofing upgrades by 2013—and such large-scale makeovers could include the overhaul of outdated furniture. More generally, the aging baby-boomer population is expected to drive annual spending on hospital construction beyond $30 billion by 2009, up from $19.8 billion in 2005, according to construction research firm FMI.

Not only did Steelcase executives see this as a golden opportunity, but when they reviewed recent customer data they noticed the highest sales volume of the company's Criterion chair—a classic desk seat with adjustable back tension, supple lumbar-curve support, and wrist rests—was going to clients in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' offices. They already had a health-care business, they just hadn't known it.

A Chair Is Born

Initially, Steelcase executives assumed that hospital administrators and doctors' office managers were using the chairs in office environments. But, as Carlson says, when their salespeople talked in-depth with these customers, they learned that physicians and hospitals were increasingly providing the comfortable chairs to patients and their family members in waiting rooms and physician-consultation areas, where they endure physical and mental stress.

"We started to see that a body is a body is a body," Carlson says. Chairs designed to support the backs and bodies of office workers would be good for backs in any setting. A new design—and marketing—strategy emerged: to apply the ergonomics of Steelcase office chairs to health-care furniture.

Carlson says that when they started researching opportunities for hospital and clinical furnishings, they discovered a fragmented market. Nurture could set itself apart and enjoy a competitive advantage by offering cohesive suites of examination tables, patient beds, physician desks, nurses' stations, and bariatric (for obese patients) waiting-room seats. "Our competitors do only one or two discrete things. There aren't many, if any, companies that focus on whole environments," Carlson says.