People
Physical rooms and staffed rooms are different quantities. More space still needs the workforce to operate it.
A NEW BUSINESS CONCEPT FOR CANNONDESIGN
Capacity
Audit Tool
Find what limits hospital capacity. Compare practical fixes, see the layout and cost, and plan the work around patient care.
Explore the interactive prototype Prepared by Disruptive EdgeOPERATIONS × SPACE × CAPITALExplore the opportunity
Conceptual illustrationTHE PROPOSITION
Connect hospital operations to the changes a building needs.
Assess the options. Price the work. Monitor the result.
01 / THE PROBLEM
What limits
hospital capacity?
A shortage of usable capacity can come from staffing, patient flow or the space itself. Before adding beds, a hospital needs to know which constraint it is solving.
Flow
Schedules, case mix and recovery capacity can limit throughput even when average utilization looks comfortable.
Place
Some constraints require capital. Others may be resolved through operational change or better use of existing space.
The audit examines demand, staffing, schedules and space.
It compares the changes needed to meet demand.
Operations and facilities.
Assessed together.
02 / THE PRODUCT
The Capacity
Audit Tool.
A proposed service and digital tool that connects operational analysis to feasible changes in the hospital. It brings together department simulation, building information, cost estimates and implementation planning.
Initial buyer: health-system CFO and COO, alongside clinical and capital-planning leaders.
01
Find the constraint
Combine hospital activity, staffing and floor-plan data. Use existing sensor feeds where available; add sensing where it answers a specific question.
02
Compare practical fixes
Test changes to the process, reuse of an existing room and new construction. Show the assumptions and capacity constraints behind each option.
03
Price it and show it
Preview the layout, estimate capital cost and phase the work around hospital operations. Flag building and clinical requirements for professional review.
04
Deliver and monitor
CannonDesign and delivery partners implement approved changes. Keep the model to compare actual performance with the baseline and review the next decision.
THE DELIVERABLE
A proposed layout, a cost estimate
and a plan to keep the hospital operating.
See how it works 03 / EXPLORE THE PRODUCT
Try the
connected prototype views.
Select a proposed change in the Emergency Department. See its location, open the cost breakdown and step through the work plan and expected disruption.
Capacity AuditNorthstar Health · Demo workspace
FICTIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM
Move supplies closer
to the treatment rooms.
The demo tests a satellite store near rooms 5–7. Compare the layout, adjust the cost allowance and see how phased work affects the schedule and room access.
Try the implementation workflowSupply round trip62 → 18 mIllustrative floor-plan route
Capital allowance$47,040Includes phased work and 20% contingency
Implementation4 weeksRoom 7 affected during two evening work windows
ABOUT THE DEMO
All hospital data, outcomes, project costs and timelines in these prototypes are illustrative. The controls demonstrate the proposed workflow, not a clinically validated model or live product.
04 / WHY CANNONDESIGN
Operations, costs
and delivery in one team.
The potential advantage is the connection between disciplines: understand the operational constraint, develop a feasible physical response, and carry it through implementation. CannonDesign already has relevant capabilities to assemble.
MODEL
PRICE
DELIVER
PRICE
DELIVER
Understand how the department operates
Clinical operations knowledge and simulation help test queues, staff assignments and capacity scenarios before committing to a design.[5]
Connect building conditions to cost and procurement
Facility assessments, capital planning, cost estimating and job order contracting provide relevant inputs and delivery mechanisms. Procurement routes depend on the client and scope.[6]
Plan the physical change and prepare the hospital
Design teams resolve the building response; transition and activation teams prepare staff and operations for opening. Contractors and clinical leaders remain part of delivery.[10]
What the product needs to prove: these capabilities can produce repeatable, costed recommendations and measurable improvements—not a bespoke consulting exercise every time.
05 / THE MARKET
The total
market opportunity.
U.S. hospital capacity services and digital-twin software. Subscription, deployment and implementation revenue are calculated separately, then combined for one year.
National hospital universe, including independent hospitals.[1]
AHA 2026 edition · 2024 survey data.5,121 hospitals × $550,000: subscription + deployment + implementation.
Base pricing scenario. Includes initial fees; not all recurring revenue.Scope and assumptions: U.S. community hospitals only; all 5,121 are included in the full-universe TAM scenario. The one-year model includes one annual subscription, one initial deployment and one implementation engagement per hospital. Deployment and implementation fees are not recurring subscription revenue. Prices are illustrative modeling assumptions, not verified contract rates. Deployment covers assessment, initial modeling and sensor commissioning; implementation covers subsequent professional services for approved changes. Construction budgets and pass-through equipment purchases are excluded to avoid counting them as service revenue.
Hospital count is sourced from AHA.[1] The model is an estimate; hospital eligibility and pricing require validation. International hospitals and non-hospital facilities are outside this defined market.
Test the
pricing assumptions.
Adjust the three prices to calculate TAM across 5,121 hospitals. The one-year total includes the first annual subscription, initial deployment and one implementation engagement.
ILLUSTRATIVE PRICING / PER HOSPITAL
Annual digital-twin subscription200k
50k500k
One-time assessment and deployment250k
50k1000k
Implementation services per hospital100k
0k500k
The hospital universe stays fixed at 5,121. Adjust prices to test the market estimate. Implementation is one professional-services engagement per hospital, excluding construction spend.
One-year TAM · initial engagement$2,816.6M5,121 × ($200,000 + $250,000 + $100,000)
Annual subscription TAM$1,024.2M5,121 hospitals × $200,000 / year
Initial deployment TAM · one-time$1,280.3M5,121 hospitals × $250,000
Implementation services TAM$512.1M5,121 hospitals × $100,000
06 / THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Competitors and
overlapping services.
Hospitals can already buy capacity analytics, simulation and workflow support. Capacity Audit needs to add value alongside those tools through building-specific options, cost estimates, disruption planning and delivery.
ProviderWhat it already coversImplication for Capacity Audit
GE HealthCare
Direct overlapDigital-twin simulation for capacity strategy, workflow improvement and design validation.[7]
A direct alternative. CannonDesign must demonstrate an advantage in detailed spatial adaptation, costing and delivery—not claim GE only diagnoses problems.
LeanTaaS
Operating capacityCapacity management, staffing and patient-flow software and services.[2]
Use existing operational insight where possible. The proposed offer must justify a separate scope beyond flow optimization.
CenTrak
Sensors & workflowPatient and staff location, room utilization, workflow analytics and consulting.[8]
Potential input provider or competitor. Avoid rebuilding location infrastructure hospitals already have.
Simul8
Simulation technologyTests hospital layouts, processes and resource changes in a simulation environment.[9]
Evaluate licensing an engine rather than building simulation infrastructure from scratch. Integration and commercial rights need checking.
dRofus
Facility planningSpace, equipment and requirements management, including capital and portfolio planning.[3]
Connect existing building information to the audit; demonstrate value beyond another facility database.
PROPOSED POSITIONTurn a capacity finding into
Turn a capacity finding into
a costed, deliverable change.
Competitors also recommend changes and support implementation. The proposed advantage is CannonDesign’s combined operational, building and delivery expertise; it must be demonstrated in paid pilots.
07 / THE BUSINESS MODEL
Deploy the twin.
Improve the space.
Keep monitoring.
Earn fees for the assessment, implementation and continued monitoring. The audit must be worth buying even when the right answer is an operational change that requires no building work.
INITIAL ENGAGEMENT
Build and commission the twin
A scoped department assessment, floor-plan and equipment model, agreed data inputs and an initial comparison of fixes. Add sensor coverage only where needed.
One-time deployment fee
Scope depends on the hospitals, departments, data quality and sensor coverage required.
CAPACITY IMPROVEMENT
Recommend, cost and implement
Design and clinical operations knowledge inform capacity recommendations and preliminary cost estimates. CannonDesign leads approved changes through design and delivery.
Implementation services
Fees follow the agreed project scope. Construction budgets are distinct from revenue earned by CannonDesign.
CONTINUING SUBSCRIPTION
Monitor and improve performance
Retain the app and digital twin to monitor movement, bed use, staffing and patient flow. Compare performance before and after changes and identify new opportunities.
Recurring digital-product revenue
An annual subscription covers the maintained model, monitoring, analytics and recommendations. Pricing scales with deployment coverage.
Customer outcome
More usable capacity from existing space, subject to clinical and operational review.
Product foundation
Maintained geometry, equipment data, sensors and hospital-system integrations.
Reason to renew
Ongoing visibility into flow, changing demand and the results of implemented changes.
08 / BUILD THE FIRST OFFER
Start with emergency.
Use existing technology.
License a simulation engine where suitable. Develop the department-specific rules, spatial options, costing and implementation workflow around it. Begin with a limited set of emergency department changes.
Define the paid scope
Choose an emergency department use case, accountable buyer and candidate simulation engine.
Challenge with buyers
Test the offer with hospitals already using capacity software. Confirm data access and what they would pay for.
Run paid pilot work
Develop and cost one practical change with clinical, facilities and delivery teams. Test workflow and integration effort.
Make the venture decision
Assess delivery margin, reusable knowledge and willingness to pay for monitoring. Physical works and outcome measurement may take longer.
Conditions for investment
A distinct, separately funded scope
Evidence that changes a real decision
An economic way to deliver and renew
CAPACITY AUDIT
Find the constraint.
Price and plan the change.
Explore the implementation prototype A venture concept prepared by Disruptive Edge for CannonDesign.
EVIDENCE & ASSUMPTIONS
Sources and model inputs.
AHA · Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals, 2026
2024 Annual Survey: 5,121 U.S. community hospitals. Includes general and specialty hospitals; suitability for the product remains to be assessed.
LeanTaaS · Financial and customer milestone
14 August 2024: approaching $150M annual contract value, nearly 200 health systems and more than 1,200 hospitals and centers. Company disclosure; ACV is not recognized revenue.
dRofus · Healthcare facility planning
Published scope includes capital planning, space requirements, equipment, standards and portfolio management.
Qventus · Surgical Growth
Published scope includes OR utilization, released-time matching, surgical growth and perioperative analytics.
CannonDesign · Digital and virtual twins
CannonDesign and Blue Cottage describe simulation of patient arrivals, queues and staff assignments to inform design decisions.
CannonDesign · FOS
Published capabilities include facility assessments, capital planning, asset tagging, cost estimating and job order contracting.
GE HealthCare · Digital Twin
Published scope includes capacity strategy, workflow efficiency, resource allocation and validation of hospital design concepts.
CenTrak · Clinical workflow
Location tracking, workflow software and consulting cover patient and staff movement, room utilization and bottleneck analysis.
Simul8 · Healthcare simulation
Simulation supports testing hospital layout, process and resource changes. Potential technology supplier; no partnership is implied.
CannonDesign · Healthcare transition and activation
Blue Cottage describes its work preparing hospitals, staff and operations for opening new facilities.
Sources reviewed 9 September 2026. The product, positioning, business model and validation sequence are proposals. All prototype data is synthetic. Architectural imagery is conceptual.