How Encompass Health Is Using Prefabrication to Expand Rehabilitation Care Across America

Healthcare construction is facing a unique challenge. Demand for care continues to grow while providers work to expand services, reduce project timelines, and improve access to facilities. At the same time, labor shortages, rising costs, and increasing complexity are forcing organizations to rethink how healthcare facilities are designed and built.

At Advancing Prefab 2026, Offsite Dirt Network sat down with Thomas Boyle of Encompass Health to discuss how prefabrication, standardization, and continuous improvement are helping the nation's largest rehabilitation hospital provider meet those challenges head-on.

https://youtu.be/Ib5sCNvcXoo

Meeting the Growing Demand for Rehabilitation Care

Encompass Health specializes in rehabilitation hospitals that help patients recover after serious injuries, surgeries, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, and other life-changing medical events. As America's population continues to age, the demand for these services is increasing rapidly.

According to Boyle, adults between the ages of 65 and 85 represent one of the fastest-growing healthcare populations in the country. Despite this growth, rehabilitation services remain significantly underserved, creating a substantial opportunity to expand access to care. For Encompass Health, the challenge isn't simply building more facilities. It's building them efficiently enough to meet growing demand.

Why Prefabrication Makes Sense in Healthcare

Healthcare facilities may appear complex, but many of their core components are highly repeatable. Patient rooms require similar layouts. Bathrooms must meet consistent ADA requirements. Headwalls, lighting systems, and medical infrastructure often follow established standards.

Rather than redesigning these elements for every project, Encompass Health has embraced standardization and prefabrication to create greater consistency across its facilities.

The company has standardized key building components including:

• Patient rooms

• ADA-compliant bathrooms

• Headwall systems

• Exterior wall assemblies

• Infrastructure components

This approach allows project teams to reduce design variability while accelerating construction schedules.

Speed to Market Matters

For healthcare providers, construction schedules impact more than project budgets.

Every delayed opening means patients must wait longer for access to critical rehabilitation services.

Boyle explained that Encompass Health is often building between six and ten hospitals each year. Each facility requires approximately 150 employees before opening its doors to serve the community. That creates significant pressure to ensure projects are delivered on time.

Prefabrication helps provide greater schedule certainty by allowing building components to be manufactured and prepared before arriving onsite. This reduces construction risks and helps facilities open faster. For healthcare organizations, speed to market directly translates into improved patient access and community impact.

Standardization Without Sacrificing Quality

One of the most important concepts discussed during the interview was the idea of eliminating unnecessary reinvention. In many industries, standardization has become common practice. Hotels, restaurants, manufacturing facilities, and retail spaces frequently rely on repeatable systems and design strategies. Healthcare is increasingly moving in the same direction.

Rather than approaching every project as a completely unique building, organizations are identifying opportunities to standardize components while maintaining quality and patient experience. This allows teams to focus their energy on improving performance rather than repeatedly solving the same challenges.

The Rise of Kit-of-Parts Construction

As the construction industry continues to evolve, many leaders are embracing the concept of "kit-of-parts" construction. The idea is simple: create standardized building components that can be scaled and adapted across multiple projects.

Boyle believes this approach will continue gaining momentum throughout healthcare construction. Rather than designing every system from scratch, healthcare providers can deploy proven assemblies that improve efficiency, reduce risk, and support faster project delivery. This strategy aligns closely with the broader movement toward industrialized construction and offsite manufacturing.

Healthcare Construction in a Changing Market

Population shifts are also influencing where healthcare facilities are being built. Many regions across the Southeast continue to experience strong population growth, creating additional demand for healthcare services, rehabilitation facilities, and supporting infrastructure. At the same time, urban markets are facing different challenges related to density, land availability, and future expansion.

As a result, healthcare providers are increasingly looking at flexible facility strategies that allow them to serve growing populations while remaining adaptable to changing market conditions. Prefabrication and modular solutions can play a critical role in helping organizations achieve that flexibility.

A Culture of Continuous Improvement

While construction methods are important, Boyle emphasized that culture remains one of the biggest drivers of success. At Encompass Health, continuous improvement extends beyond construction and into every aspect of the organization.

The same mindset that drives better patient outcomes also drives better facility delivery.

Teams continually evaluate design decisions, construction sequencing, partnerships, and operational processes to identify opportunities for improvement. That commitment to refinement has helped Encompass Health successfully scale its facility expansion strategy while maintaining a strong focus on patient care.

Looking Ahead

The future of healthcare construction will depend on speed, efficiency, and adaptability.

As demand for rehabilitation services continues to grow, organizations must find ways to deliver facilities faster while maintaining quality and operational excellence.

For Encompass Health, prefabrication and standardization have become essential tools for achieving those goals. By embracing repeatable systems, reducing unnecessary complexity, and focusing on continuous improvement, the company is helping create a model for how healthcare facilities can be delivered more efficiently in the years ahead.

Most importantly, those improvements are not just benefiting construction teams. They are helping patients gain access to the care they need faster than ever before.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Encompass Health?

Encompass Health is the nation's largest rehabilitation hospital provider, specializing in post-acute care for patients recovering from injuries, surgeries, strokes, and other medical conditions.

Why is prefabrication valuable in healthcare construction?

Prefabrication helps improve schedule certainty, reduce construction timelines, standardize building components, and accelerate facility delivery while maintaining quality.

What is kit-of-parts construction?

Kit-of-parts construction uses standardized building components that can be repeated across multiple projects, improving efficiency, consistency, and scalability.

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