Virtual Visits

A new study purportedly suggests that “virtual visits” to healthcare providers for certain infections may be as effective as, and cheaper than, in-person in-office visits.  The researchers’ rough estimate of the cost difference with respect to treating a patient with a reported UTI was $74 per e-visit vs. $93 for an office visit.  Query, what are the implications for proper patient screening and care; patient savings; efficiencies; return visit frequencies; over-prescribing antibiotics; access to healthcare; and healthcare real estate needs, costs, and returns on costs per square footage?

Read more at:

“Virtual visits to doctor may be cheaper than and as effective as in-person visits”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/virtual-visits-to-doctor-may-be-cheaper-than-and-as-effective-as-in-person-visits/2013/01/18/8237c028-601e-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html

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Healthcare Real Estate Trends

In healthcare the one constant is change.  Recently we’ve seen changes in healthcare (and by extension, healthcare real estate) because of The Great Recession, lower reimbursements, healthcare reform, mergers and repurposing (to name a few).  Below are six trends for this year that Duke Realty predicted at the outset of this year.  Now that we have four months of 2013 under our belts, it’s a good time to look back and see how these have played out, and, just as importantly, look forward… and be ready for more change…

1.              Higher-acuity care will increasingly move to medical office buildings.

2.              Freestanding emergency departments will be used in new ways.

3.              Partnering will increase.

4.              The case for hospital-driven monetizations will keep getting stronger.

5.              Repurposing will expand.

6.              Compliance will become even more vital.

I encourage you to read more at:

“Six Healthcare Real Estate Trends to Watch in 2013”

http://www.dukerealty.com/media-releases/2013/01/six-healthcare-real-estate-trends-to-watch-in-2013/

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BOMA’s 2013 MOB Conference

This will be the fourth year in a row that Phil (one of the other contributors to this blog) and I have attended this conference.  It’s a great conference for all of us healthcare real estate people.  Here’s a good, brief summary of this conference, from BOMA:

“Join more than 700 healthcare real estate executives, CFOs, developers, investors, lenders, facility managers, advisors and architects as they come together to discuss current issues and trends in developing, leasing and managing medical office buildings and other ambulatory care facilities. This comprehensive two-day conference focuses exclusively on healthcare real estate and includes case studies, roundtables, panel discussions, interactive sessions and keynote addresses focused on issues and trends in healthcare and their impact on healthcare real estate.”

I consider it the year's “can't miss” healthcare real estate event.

BOMA’s 2013 MOB Conference is May 1-3, 2013, in San Francisco, CA. 

For more details and to register, go to: http://www.boma.org/TrainingAndEducation/MedicalOfficeBuildings/Pages/default.aspx

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“bombarded with inquiries”

If you’re a player in the healthcare real estate arena, then you have to love hearing about a developer getting “bombarded with inquiries” from potential healthcare tenants after announcing a second phase of a medical and retail development.  To read about this, the “hub and spoke” model that we hear so much about in healthcare real estate, expectations of a continued growing market for certain healthcare real estate, and how that good old fashioned adage “location, location, location” seems to still ring true, go to http://www.nashvilleledger.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=61845.

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The Health and Trends of Healthcare Real Estate

I recommend this quick read on healthcare real estate.  Although it’s not an extremely recent article, I believe that it still captures some of the healthcare real estate trends well, and it will serve as a good foundation for some coming blog posts.  Some of these then coming trends were discussed years ago at the BOMA MOB Conference (e.g., the push for ambulatory care facilities because of crowded, costly ERs).

Market remains ripe for medical real estate

October 01, 2012 | James Ellis and Aaron Razavi

http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/blog/market-remains-ripe-medical-real-estate

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Healthcare Providers Push Forward with Significant Construction or Renovation Projects

Some healthcare providers are making large capital investments in their facilities.  Here are some articles evidencing this:

For plenty of good news from Kentucky, see Hospital Boom Continues in Kentucky at http://www.lanereport.com/10881/2012/09/hospital-boom-continues/. 

For some good news from Florida, see Florida Hospital to announce $270 millions plan for three women’s health towers at http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-18/health/os-florida-hospital-womens-health-20120917_1_orlando-health-towers-capital-investment.

And of course we can’t forget the $1.1 billion project by Johns Hopkins, which some have called the “hotel-like hospital project”.  Here is just one of many articles on this project:  Johns Hopkins unveils new hospital, at http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-new-hopkins-hospital-20120126,0,5336130.story.

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Healthcare Real Estate and the Affordable Care Act

The US Supreme Court has ruled regarding the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”), and Obama has won a second term in the White House.  Now that much of the big picture uncertainty regarding the ACA is gone, it’s time for healthcare providers, healthcare real estate developers, investors, and other such players in this arena, to move forward with the ACA’s effects in mind.

Below is a link to a reasonably quick read that I think you will find worth your time if you are ready to start thinking about healthcare real estate with the ACA in mind (which you should, if you haven’t already).  Teasers: “Many [healthcare] systems have already taken steps to expand their real estate needs to accommodate this anticipated increased demand for care” and “This uncertainty fueled today’s pent-up demand for medical real estate that is now being released.”

Affordable Care Act boost for medical offices

Dec 22, 2012 | Written by Mark Alexander

http://www.news-press.com/article/20121223/RE/312230035/Affordable-Care-Act-boost-medical-offices?nclick_check=1

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