Micro Hospitals Are Coming to Town

IRVINE, CA—The cost to build a freestanding emergency room is significantly lower than building a medical office or hospital, so they may proliferate, NAI Capital‘s SVP, director of healthcare services Sonya Dopp-Grech tells GlobeSt.com. We sat down with Dopp-Grech for an exclusive look at the newest trends in healthcare and healthcare real estate, and this is what she told us.

• Growth in lower-income areas. The lower-income patients seem to be benefiting the most from healthcare reform since this is the group with the largest increase in new coverage. This is leading to growth by medical groups and hospitals to serve this previously underserved population. Growth in grants for federally qualified community clinics is further helping to serve this population.
• Consumer price shopping. Changes to insurance, and particularly the growth of high-PPO deductibles, is causing patients to price shop for procedures.
• Social networking, particularly Yelp! The booming popularity of online tools such as Yelp! is catching the attention of medical groups and hospitals and is resulting on an increased focus on patient satisfaction. Online reviews are becoming a key component as patients select providers.
• Telemedicine. Providers and patients are increasingly making use of telemedicine through websites and Skype. In some cases, this can eliminate the need for an in-office consultation. It is particularly well suited for ongoing psychology appointments.
• Medical group growth. Medical groups are rapidly growing through acquisitions and affiliations, with some hospital groups reporting large waiting lists of doctors wanting to be acquired by the larger hospital-backed groups.
• Repurposing spaces. Repurposing existing space can be much more cost-effective than building new. Spaces are being designed for more-flexible universal use as well as being designed to enhance the patient experience.
• Freestanding emergency rooms. Freestanding emergency rooms and micro hospitals are currently being built in other states. Future changes may allow for freestanding emergency rooms to come to California. The cost to build a freestanding emergency room is significantly lower.