The transition of healthcare real estate to a convenience-based model in recent years has been driven by two primary factors: a shift in the balance of inpatient and outpatient revenue streams, and data analysis. Taking care of patients today can be as much about technology and records sharing as it is about doctor-patient interactions.
Gensler Design Director Randy Guillot said the shift in revenue generation toward outpatient care has larger healthcare groups focusing on personalized care for the aging baby boomer market. More capital these days is being earmarked for tech and wellness-based care because boomers are demanding a personal touch with regard to access to medical records and telemedicine.
"It's no longer a below-line item. This is now a legitimate line," Guillot said.
That is most prevalent in the ways medical office buildings are being designed today. Where the neighborhood medical office buildings of 40 years ago were one-stop shops with a range of specialties, today's MOBs more closely resemble corporate environments focused on a single specialty or disease treatment like cancer, cardiovascular health or orthopedics.
Guillot said the staff at these coordinated care facilities is in constant communication with each other about patient health. The data that larger medical groups are collecting on their patients can define populations in need of specific services. This larger wellness strategy means a hospital is no longer the centerpiece in a group's real estate decisions.
The centerpiece could be a building that does not even see patients, Forum Studio Principal Erik Andersen said.
Last year, Forum Studio completed construction of Mercy Virtual Care Center, a 24-hour call center in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides real-time results, data and research that is shared between doctors and patients across the country. Mercy Virtual integrates five platforms: Mercy's TeleICU unit of more than 450 beds in 15 hospitals across five states; a system that combs through the electronic records of every patient who enters Mercy's hospital network to identify patients who are most susceptible to sepsis; a portable telehealth unit to enable clinicians to monitor their patients, preventing unnecessary trips to emergency rooms; and remote monitoring of critically ill and high-risk ambulatory patients.
Andersen said this model will become more common as larger healthcare groups look for ways to stem rising heathcare costs. Administrative costs for American healthcare providers account for 8% of total healthcare spending; the global average is 3%. And total healthcare costs accounted for 17% of U.S. gross domestic product in 2015.
To hear more from Andersen, Guillot and other healthcare real estate experts, please attend Bisnow's State of Chicago Healthcare event, 7 a.m. June 28 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel. Register here.
