by Brianna Crandall — April 26, 2013—Healthcare providers must begin to “think like retailers,” refocusing on site selection and creating “convenient” space for patient care delivery, according to a new report from global commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE. Ten Tips for Healthcare Providers Under the Affordable Care Act finds that healthcare systems will need to transform how they provide services, and that new alternative models of delivering medical care will need to emerge as a result of the new laws and the changing demographic landscape.
“The estimated 32 million newly insured people under The Affordable Care Act (ACA), combined with baby boomers approaching their peak healthcare consumption years, will dramatically affect how healthcare systems deliver patient care,” said Craig Beam, Managing Director of CBRE Healthcare Services. “While many questions remain unanswered, what is known is that healthcare systems will need to transform how they provide services.”
Among the points made in the new CBRE report:
- Healthcare systems need to rethink their real estate location decisions and provide patient care in convenient, ambulatory settings in locations close to where commercially insured patients live, moving away from the old “hub-and-spoke” model.
- Attracting healthcare users to new ambulatory care facilities will require healthcare executives to think like retailers. System providers that adopt retail models to market their services will be well positioned to capture greater market share and benefit from the changes underway as a result of ACA. Urgent-care and after-hours free-standing emergency centers need to be part of the retail-based, continuum-of-care model. Providers will need to compete against traditional health and pharmaceutical retailers who are making in-roads with clinics.
- Healthcare providers should emphasize visibility in choosing where to locate new ambulatory facilities. Highly visible locations on major intersections or in well-located retail centers are essential to reinforcing branding and generating drive-by and foot traffic.
CBRE’s Healthcare Services division provides real estate solutions to more than 60 major hospitals and healthcare systems, and over 4,500 physician practices throughout North America.
