RDG Out & About: Healthcare Design Conference + Expo
RDG’s Will Downing and Alison Topp join panels at this year’s Healthcare Design Conference to share insights on collaborative healthcare planning, from creating efficient, high-performing outpatient surgery centers to navigating competing priorities and capital investment needs across complex health systems.
Event Details
Date: October 17 to 20, 2026
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA
Healthcare Design Conference + Expo
Who’s at Your Table, When & Why?
Tuesday, October 20: 8:15 - 9:15 a.m., Room 219
Like the surgical table, the planning table for an outpatient surgery center requires the right people at the right time. Designing for maximum efficiency & safety for the medical specialties involved is critical.
Hear from the architect, owner/operator and medical equipment planning team behind the new Steindler Surgery Center — designed for an optimized experience for both orthopedic surgical patients and providers. Hear how the project team aligned around clinical priorities, with clinical decision-makers and equipment specialists involved from the start. The team anticipated the required mix of procedures, equipment and instrument flow, sterile processing capacity, patient pathways, clean/dirty separation, and the absence of bottlenecks.
As a result, there were no equipment or construction change orders, and the facility opened 8 weeks earlier than anticipated. Speakers will share how their integrated planning from day one through construction, commissioning and occupancy resulted in a right-sized, high-performance surgery center capable of supporting higher throughput, safer operations and a markedly improved experience for patients and staff.
Speakers
Will Downing, AIA, ACHA
Senior Partner, Certified Healthcare Architect
RDG Planning & Design
Kathy Hotz
Director of Ambulatory Surgery Center
Steindler Orthopedic Clinic
Carrie Condry
Senior Medical Equipment Planner
Anchor Planning
Richard Cooley, ST
Project Design Manager
STERIS
Prioritizing Capital: Managing Competing Voices
Tuesday, October 20: 1:15 - 2:15 p.m., Room 231
The audience will gain insight into the complex logistics and competing voices involved in bringing together capital investment needs from seven health markets with fairly independent leadership across a six-state integrated care system.
The session will explore system visualization techniques that illustrate the distribution of service line capabilities and capacities across various patient geographies. Presenters will demonstrate how functional and capacity needs and infrastructure upgrades are synthesized into priority projects while addressing the often competing demands of planning, project and budget priorities.
The presentation will also illustrate why planning and project flexibility are crucial as budgetary guidance evolves. Attendees will explore the challenges of staying the course from clinical vision to capital investment throughout the planning process.
Speakers
Alison Topp, AIA, ACHA, NCARB, LEED AP
Partner, Certified Healthcare Architect
RDG Planning & Design
John Temple
Principal
Forvis Mazars
Chris Rupert, AICP, LEED AP
Senior Associate, Market Sector Leader
LEO A DALY
Learn more and register for the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo.