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— Health Care Properties Quarterly — June 2016
Trends
Al to
Sharon Lardie
303.947.3063
A stunning linear LED sconce -
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F
inding quality health care
has not always been conve-
nient for the patient. Routine
appointments frequently
were scheduled months in
advance (by phone after navigating
multitudes of options). Often the
only appointment times available
were during work or school hours.
The doctor’s office typically was on
a crowded hospital campus or in
an outdated medical office build-
ing, not necessarily close to home.
Additionally, more often than not,
the clinical space felt sterile, cold
and impersonal. Not an experience
to look forward to! Over the last
few years, changes in health care
regulations and consumer expecta-
tions have created an evolution in
the delivery of health care, which
is also impacting health care real
estate.
Consumers, now faced with
higher insurance deductibles and
out-of-pocket costs, are doing more
research in determining where their
health care dollars will be spent.
Health systems and private practic-
es, responding to competitive forces
and consumer demands, are mov-
ing quickly to improve the patient
experience by offering online sched-
uling and medical record access,
longer hours, including evenings
and weekends, shorter wait times,
and greater responsiveness and
overall communication.
In an environment of escalat-
ing competition between hospital
systems, increased cost transpar-
ency and consumer awareness,
the fight to win and keep custom-
ers has reached
unprecedented
levels. Health care
system and medi-
cal practice brand-
ing now rivals the
hypercompetitive
retail world with
signage and media
exposure, both tra-
ditional and social,
critical for brand
awareness and loy-
alty. Medical facili-
ties of all types are
now being located
closer to the
consumers, with
increased awareness of accessibil-
ity and visibility, often integrated in
retail centers. In fact, many primary
care services are now integrated
and offered in other retail environ-
ments like grocery and drug stores.
Primary care is not the only ser-
vice moving closer to the consumer.
Specialty facilities, including stand-
alone emergency departments,
urgent care centers and ambulatory
surgery centers, are springing up in
populated suburbs around the Front
Range and in major cities across the
country. Highly specialized centers
focused on orthopedic, cardiovascu-
lar, gastroenterology, urology, neu-
rology and pain management ser-
vices, to name a few, are now preva-
lent and highly visible. Additionally,
other facilities in the continuum of
care, like those focused on rehabili-
tation and wellness, are showing up
in close proximity to practices that
provide synergistic services, result-
ing in a more user-friendly patient
flow. Today’s patients, preferring
not to drive all over town to see
different specialists, expect to find
multiple services in the same loca-
tion, or at least within convenient
proximity.
Not only is health care becoming
more convenient, accessible and
close to home, but also the look
and feel of the facilities is chang-
ing rapidly. New spaces are created
to be warm and inviting, incorpo-
rating elements of the retail and
hospitality industries with patient
experience in mind. Building com-
mon areas are being designed with
elements of coffee shops and hotel
lobbies, resulting in a more com-
fortable environment for patients
and families to spend time. Utiliz-
ing comfortable furniture, elegant
artwork and soothing colors and
finishes, modern health care spaces
could easily be mistaken for more
upscale settings.
The final frontier in the evolution
of providing health care services
to consumers demanding instant
gratification is the integration of
technology. New technology in
remote personal health monitoring
is changing the doctor/patient rela-
tionship, and physicians now have
immediate access to vital stats to
help diagnose and prevent condi-
tions, often before they occur. Doc-
tors can now communicate with
patients via video, smart phone,
email and text, significant progress
from the days where an appoint-
ment in their office was the only
opportunity to speak directly with
the provider.
The evolution has begun and the
shift to patient-focused health care
will continue as consumers demand
more value for their dollars and
health systems and practices esca-
late their fierce competition to add
and retain patients loyal to them.
s
Dann Burke,
CCIM
Vice president,
CBRE Denver
Healthcare
Services, Denver
Tech Center
In an environment of escalating competition
between hospital systems, increased cost
transparency and consumer awareness,
the fight to win and keep customers has
reached unprecedented levels.
