Eileen Malone is a nurse executive who has supported the Military Health System’s commitment to evidence based design for a multi-billion dollar modernization program, which will result in the next-generation of military healthcare facilities designed to improve patient and staff outcomes, positively contribute to the bottom line and expand the body of evidence-based design science. The military has one of the largest healthcare systems with 63 hospitals and 8,300 medical and dental clinics located around the world. A long time advocate of quality and patient safety, Eileen coauthored a report to guide the Military Healthcare System’s application of evidence based design and with Julie Mann-Dooks, Joe Strauss and Tony Cicci created an evidence based design checklist that guided the design for one of the replacement hospitals for Walter Reed Army Medical Center– a 1.27 million square foot, 806 million dollar patient-centered care medical campus scheduled to open at Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 2011. Much of this work was shared with The Center for Health Design and used in the development of the EDAC Study Guides.
With over thirty years in healthcare, Eileen served in a variety of key leadership positions during her twenty-six year Army career, including Commander of the Fort Belvoir hospital and was responsible for the health of almost 150 thousand beneficiaries living in Northern Virginia. As the commander she led her team in the population analysis, business planning and concept design strategy for a 105 million dollar replacement facility. Ms. Malone had early facility experience as the nurse methods analyst for the Army’s Health Facility Southeast Project Office, which supported a six state region with multiple projects including a 1.1 million square foot, 250 million dollar medical center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina that opened in 2001. Additional key leadership assignments included Army Congressional Liaison Officer, Assistant Chief of the Army Nurse Corps Personnel Branch, Quality Improvement Nurse and nurse practitioner assignments around the world. Her last Army assignment before retirement in 2004 was as the Chief Information Officer for the Army Medical Department, for which she received the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2004 Leadership Award in recognition of her work to create and implement a patient-focused IM-IT strategy, which included the deployment of a longitudinal electronic health record from battlefields to the medical centers A recipient of many military awards and recognitions and consultant and academic appointments, Ms. Malone has delivered numerous national presentations and has contributed to a number of recent articles about evidence-based design and in the past about information management and technology strategy and quality care improvement.
Ms. Malone is the Senior Partner for Mercury Healthcare Consulting, LLC located in Alexandria, Virginia supporting clients embracing evidence-based design as a means to improve patient, staff and resource outcomes. She is a member of the Center for Health Design’s Research Coalition, assisted the Center with the development of the EDAC study guides and is a member of The National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions Advisory Board. The entire healthcare design industry benefits from her passion, the work that she has developed, and the time that she has selflessly devoted to the community. Eileen’s leadership and tenacity have clearly defined her contributions to the 21st century of healthcare and into the future.