Building healthcare uses can turn around a struggling strip center, and adding hotels and restaurants around a hospital can bring in new patients. And either way, patients/consumers are happy. The strategy is a win-win for everyone, panelists at yesterday’s Bisnow DFW healthcare event say.

Methodist Health System is looking at building its first ambulatory campus, says COO Pam Stoyanoff. It’ll be a fairly large project that’ll provide almost everything but overnight hospital services, and Methodist is looking at including retail aspects. She says things like fitness centers and nutrition stores promote health and preventive care, which is important for the system. She’s a little concerned about the opposite trend though—adding healthcare within retail centers—because those are sometimes too far from and don't partner with hospitals. That’s a major concern if someone comes into a freestanding urgent care with something (like cardiac arrest) that requires more than the facility can provide.

Pictured is our hospital panel: Array Architects principal Shane Williams, Parkland Health & Hospital Systems CFO John Moore, Turner Construction director Steve Whitcraft, Texas Health Resources EVP Brett McClung, Pam, and Baylor Scott & White North Texas president Steve Newton.

Having healthcare as one in a mix of uses gives broader access points, says Array Architects principal Shane Williams. That’ll create more demand and activity for hospitals. Although most panel discussions tend to focus on new development, Shane does a lot of work looking at revamping older facilities, and one way to revitalize those is to add retail. Vice versa, adding a medical component to a struggling strip center can give it new life and create a hub. What starts as a modest confluence of healthcare and retail can turn into a larger micro-campus. We snapped Shane (center) with Structure Tone’s Gerald Grogan, Array’s Marsha Whitt and Karen Allen, and Innova Group’s Clint Compton.

Parkland has been the beneficiary of mixed-use activity, says CFO John Moore (pictured with colleague Vidya Ayyr). Parkland’s campus has seen revitalization around it with new apartments and restaurants, and it’s brought more patients into the hospital. He says having a community of services including hotels, plus either a walkable or transit-accessible area, is a major benefit. John also attests to the concrete benefits of design, which he says drives patient satisfaction, which in turns drives loyalty and recurring patients. Babies delivered at Parkland are well up year-over-year, even though births are down in DFW. All Parkland did is change the layout of its OB space so moms don’t have to share rooms. Don’t expect any major capital projects from the system any time soon; half its patients are uncompensated, a business model that doesn’t lend itself to expansion.

On the other hand, Baylor Scott & White has a $500M capital budget and will be deploying it at Main and Main locations that offer maximum convenience and accessibility. Bonus if those have a concentration of amenities, because North Texas president Steve Newton (right, with Medco Construction’s Denward Freeman) thinks the blend of uses helps patients and communities. The system will be creating more access points with more (but smaller) facilities throughout the DFW area. He says the surge of freestanding/retail emergency facilities has been driven by Texas’ refusal to expand Medicaid and legislative reactions to the Affordable Care Act. Co-pays and deductibles are up, and 25% of Texans still have no insurance. He thinks the market is about to be oversaturated by the retail healthcare centers and soon there will be consolidation and acquisitions, plus some closings.

Texas Health Resources EVP Brett McClung (center) says systems can expand without building any new facilities. Technology and new relationships are low-cost, low-effort ways to build up your patient base. One example: THR’s partnership with CVS. Technology is the driver; you can do things you never could have before, including help people from a distance. Brett believes tech will be the biggest game changer of healthcare next year. (More so than the election; he says healthcare is huge and complex, and it won’t change on a dime regardless of who takes office and what their goals are.) You can’t predict when a totally new service or strategy will emerge and alter the landscape.