Healthcare and real estate continue to converge in new and innovative ways, thanks to today’s silver tsunami of Baby Boomers and Obamacare. That’s why we’re thrilled to host our Bisnow’s third annual National Healthcare Expansion Summit, a comprehensive, day-long event on Nov. 25 in Philadelphia.

One of our panelists, Chicago’s own HSA PrimeCare prez John Wilson, shared three healthcare trends to watch:

1) The Medical Home Model

Large healthcare providers continue to purchase independent physician groups to bolster their collaborative, multi-specialty care, and these additions have popularized the patient-centered medical home model of care, John tells us. This model involves the primary care physician coordinating patient care, treatments, and working with specialists, and these changes will likely impact the way developers build MOBs in the future. What that centralized system means: limited common corridors, larger spaces with more efficient layouts, and in many cases, flexible exam rooms.

2) Retail Locations

Today’s consumers expect quickness and convenience in all services, and healthcare is no exception, John says. That’s led healthcare providers to look at retail locations they would have never considered years ago. For healthcare real estate pros, it's about helping providers balance convenience expectations of the consumer with critical medical accessibility. Urgent care centers are becoming a popular option for patients looking for convenience and immediate care, he tells us. They’re being opened in independent retail locations with good access or as part of a larger medical office facility.

3) Cost Control

The healthcare industry’s difficult task: reduce costs while improving quality of patient care. “There is a confluence of three powerful trends: increasing demand, regulatory constraints, and cost control,” John says. The best way to cozy up to a hospital system? The role of real estate will be to help providers with efficient, flexible, and economical buildings to house healthcare services, John says. HSA PrimeCare just completed the vault expansion at the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (above) on the Silver Cross Hospital campus in New Lenox. The firm is also building a 30k SF business center for employees and administrators on campus. Our day-long National Healthcare Expansion Summit will be held at the Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, Pa., on Nov. 25, featuring healthcare real estate pros, design and construction firms, healthcare REITs, and high level health system execs. Sign up here!