Alison Flynn Gaffney is tapping into her real estate background to improve staff and patient experience by rethinking the physical space at Banner Health's Tucson campuses.
When Alison Flynn Gaffney stepped into the CEO role at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center South, she didn’t bring a traditional, linear path to the job.
Before taking the reins of the academic medical centers in southern Arizona at the end of 2024, she spent two years as president of the healthcare division at global real estate firm JLL, where she gained experience that fundamentally reshaped how she thinks about hospitals and the space where care happens.
“It was an interesting decision on my part,” Flynn Gaffney told HealthLeaders. “And I'm a big believer in taking calculated risks and really looking at the environment that surrounds us in totality. There’s a tremendous amount of square footage dedicated to the care, health, and wellness of humans and of our communities and our teams that serve within that space.”
At JLL, Flynn Gaffney traveled the country studying how organizations manage and optimize their real estate portfolios. The experience, she noted, gave her exposure to how health systems, as well as companies outside healthcare, think about space as a strategic asset.
Flynn Gaffney’s previous stop prepared her for her current role by allowing her to “learn from other organizations, both large ecosystems, smaller community hospitals, how they're leveraging their real estate portfolios for the benefit of the missions, and how they're maximizing their square footage from a care delivery standpoint.”
The mindset of maximizing square footage now informs how she leads Banner’s Tucson campuses.
“We want our community to feel safe and inspired and energized and cared for within our real estate,” Flynn Gaffney said. “And we want our teams to be at their highest level of all of that, as well as feel joy, feel comfort, and feel inspired by the environment that they work in.”
She added that the environment must also be “smart,” ensuring the organization is “able to deliver on all of our missions of clinical excellence, education, and research.”
Pictured: Alison Flynn Gaffney, CEO, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center South.
Designing for Flow, Safety, and Experience
Under Flynn Gaffney’s leadership, the Tucson campus opened a redesigned pediatric emergency department in January, a project that reflects her belief that hospital space should be intuitive and purpose-driven.
“We've created a holistic space that serves the whole child and their family,” she said. “It is not transactional in nature. The color schemes, the aesthetics, the flow, the patient flow makes a lot of sense. It gets people to where they need to get their care more expeditiously.”
The redesign includes features uncommon in many hospitals, including sensory-friendly rooms meant to serve as calming spaces for neuro-divergent children and rooms for young adults who are in crisis.
Even the exterior was reimagined. As construction wrapped on the project, Flynn Gaffney noticed a blank wall facing the parking lot. She thought Tucson would enjoy a good mural, so Banner engaged with a local artist who is in the process of producing one that will not only be aesthetically pleasing, but also serve a practical purpose.
“If you're coming to our campus, and you're bringing your sick child, and you're looking for the entrance, and you're really nervous, and you're scared, you're now going to have this beacon of our mural to point you in the right direction of our pediatric emergency department,” she said.
For Flynn Gaffney, the convergence of aesthetics, wayfinding, emotional experience, and operational flow working together is what strategic real estate is all about.
Measuring Return on Culture
In a nonprofit academic medical center, the return on investment from physical redesigns isn’t measured solely in financial terms.
“How we monitor or maximize the ROI on that is feedback,” Flynn Gaffney said. “It’s listening and learning.”
Through employee voice surveys, she reads “every single comment line by line,” using feedback to assess what’s working and what’s not.
That people-first philosophy extends to staff-focused spaces, including recharge rooms distributed throughout the hospitals.
“Healthcare is hard, right?” she said. “There are moments that are life changing for families and for individuals where people pass as well. And to honor that and recognize that … these recharge rooms where a team member can go and just take a minute, gather themselves, get some space, chill out, whatever it is that they need to do to bring themselves back to center to be able to deliver care and to show up for themselves.”
She acknowledges that creating those environments can be overlooked.
“We're all running at such a rapid pace that sometimes we forget to check on ourselves and we forget to make sure that we're creating environments where people can feel like they can pause and reflect and then move forward,” she said.
Still, Flynn Gaffney jokes that hospitals won’t mirror tech campuses anytime soon with table tennis or billiards tables scattered across the floor.
“Healthcare isn't going to be Google-ized,” she said.
But she believes details matter—from ergonomics in operating rooms to walking pathways and furniture placement—because the physical environment influences safety, efficiency, and connection.
During a time when operational and financial strain are hampering academic medical centers, Flynn Gaffney sees opportunity to get the most out of the four walls around her.
Jay Asser is the CEO editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Alison Flynn Gaffney treats hospital square footage as a mission-driving asset by utilizing design, flow, and functionality.
Redesigned pediatric spaces and staff recharge rooms show how physical design can improve patient comfort and workforce well-being.
Return on investment is measured through feedback from staff to ensure space changes truly improve performance and engagement.