Northwestern Medical leadership understood a new consolidated clinic space would help improve the experience, increase efficiencies, and provide continuity of care for their growing separate Obstetrics (OB/GYN) and Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) practices. The new facility on Northwestern’s Lake Forest Campus delivers a new joint practice model and the ideal patient and provider environment to support it.

Project goals included improved patient flow, increased efficiency for staff, and private and separate arrival experiences for the OB/GYN and MFM patients. Important drivers for a better provider and staff experience included providing daylit work areas and creating a way for providers and staff to collaborate near exam rooms. Exam rooms are arranged in a pod concept, allowing patients to easily find their exam room, minimizing travel distance from waiting rooms. Exam pods are connected by a large daylight filled team workspace which easily allows physicians to travel between exam rooms, collaborating with other providers and staff. To reduce duplication of services between the practices, lab, ultrasound and consult rooms were centrally located so that both practices could share these resources.