Healthcare Systems Target Emerging Markets

Healthcare follows the people—and during the pandemic people moved. They moved out of urban centers and spread into new markets across the country. Now, healthcare systems are focused on placing facilities near growing communities, according to Sean Miller VP of development at Anchor Health Properties. Miller is speaking at GlobeSt.com Healthcare conference currently underway about how the delivery of care has shifted into growth markets.

“Over the past year we have seen a big push towards locating facilities in growing communities and in retail developments,” Miller tells GlobeSt.com. “Many of the systems across the country that we have partnered with have been focused on are looking into the future and projecting growth patterns and strategic locations in major markets to identify key locations that providers want to create a larger market presence in the future.”

The short list of states that are seeing an influx of new residents includes Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma. “Many markets that we serve across the country are growing rapidly due to people relocating from states with a higher cost of living creating many opportunities for suburbs to show rapid growth trends,” adds Miller about these state.

While there is extra attention on new and emerging cities, major metropolitan cities continue to key investment markets. In big cities, there has been increased development activity for inpatient rehab facilities, skilled nursing facilities, behavioral health facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, hospital outpatient facilities and health and wellness facilities. “We have seen a large number of RFP’s over the past several months for each of these healthcare models as population growth increases and the need for systems to be where the population is in many markets that we serve across the country,” adds Miller.

Both of these trends will continue to gain momentum next year. “Systems are looking for ways to move out into communities and establish a strategic presence in areas that they may not have served before,” he explains. “We feel that many systems are looking for creative ways to utilize our innovative financial models to create more a market presence and increase market share across the country.”

For Anchor Health Properties development division, that is a benefit. Miller expects to see a significant increase in revenue next year as a result. “We are particularly focused on the continued growth trends for inpatient rehab, behavioral health, micro or neighborhood hospitals and hospital outpatient departments,” he explains. “We are also seeing great opportunities in our acquisitions platform as we are acquiring medical and commercial offices to repurpose to other healthcare uses.”

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