The configuration of healthcare buildings is complex, especially emergency hospitals that require many functions. In this study, the aim was to explore if automated configuration control can reduce occurrences of hospital deficiencies in construction projects. A bow-tie risk analysis identified the causes and consequences of configuration deficiencies. Measures to prevent and recover from deficiencies were established from configuration management research. Three newly built emergency hospitals were studied to investigate to what extent causes, consequences, preventive and recovery measures were present. The most common causes of deficiencies were deviations from intended configurations, in the literature and the cases. The consequences were cost increase, time delays, insufficient deliveries and corrective rework. None of the examined cases had implemented preventive or recovery measures associated with configuration control. Altogether, these results indicate that automation of configuration control may effectively reduce hospital building deficiencies and subsequent effects.
