Unlike standard emergency departments, EmPATH units gather their patients in chairs in a central room called a milieu.
[1][2][3] EmPATH units were developed as a response to US emergency department overcrowding as large numbers of mental health patients were waiting for hours or days until they could be transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility.
[6] The open design of the EmPATH unit allows patients to move about freely, helping reduce stress.
[7][8] A study of the EmPATH unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has shown that patients need shorter stays, less inpatient care, and return to hospital less frequently.
For his work on EmPATH units, Healthcare Design magazine named him one of the "Top 10 People in Healthcare Design” in 2020[15] and the California Hospital Association awarded him the Ritz E. Heerman Memorial Award in 2019.