Healthcare Design - December 2017 - 38

In Focus

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averages for hospitals due to the low acuity of care provided.
To fully understand the microhospital model, it helps to consider the
features it shares with other commercial property types. This trend
may be new to healthcare, but it represents a coalescence of successful
strategies borrowed from retail, office, hospitality, and even industrial
real estate.
R E TA I L A P P E A L

Healthcare systems competing for market share
seek inroads into the communities where curPROPERLY EXECUTED,
rent and prospective patients live, work, and
THE COST TO CONSTRUCT
play. Toward that end, they're taking cues from
the retail stores that populate highly visible
MICROHOSPITALS IS
power centers and shopping complexes at maOFTEN LESS THAN THE
jor crossroads. Like stores, many microhospitals
and medical office buildings are built near main
EXPENSE OF EXPANDING
thoroughfares or are adjacent to transportation
AN EXISTING FACILITY.
hubs, with ample parking and ease of access for
patients.
Owing to the relatively small footprint of microhospitals, investors are
identifying promising sites using the same tools developers use to select
locations for retail projects. Hot-spot data mapping and traffic pattern
analysis software can highlight areas with the desired demographic mix,
convenient to populations that have been underserved by existing or remote healthcare options.
H O S P I TA L I T Y L E S S O N S

Like hoteliers, microhospital planners use research and carefully vetted
demand analyses to provide a targeted product that not only meets local
healthcare needs but is also tailored to fit the community.
Hospital operators are studying up on hospitality, as well. Given the
pivotal importance of outcomes and patient satisfaction in healthcare
today, providers are devoting much greater thought to the patient experience. Health system administrators are looking for ways to enhance
the customer service aspect of their hospitals, not just in care delivery or
post-surgery follow-up, but also in the marks of good hospitality such as
locational convenience, wait times, food service, and cleanliness.
As hospitals glean best practices from the hotel industry, developers can
incorporate these measures into the design of new microhospitals. And the
small scale of a microhospital gives operators the opportunity to devote a
high degree of personal attention to each patient. For example, a microhospital may choose to provide patients with gourmet or cooked-to-order
meals, a luxury that a full-size hospital feeding 100 or more patients may
deem impractical. Some facilities are providing hotel-type visiting space
for patient guests, with higher-end seating and workstations or even sleeping accommodations.
Unlike a traditional metropolitan hospital, which requires caregivers
and patients near and far to make a trek to its central campus, microhospital locations usually reflect physician and patient preferences for
convenience. Like office developers, the investors behind a new microhospital will strive to provide amenities like covered parking, convenient
building access, and a location close to desired restaurant and shopping
areas that make the property more appealing to employees and patients.

DECEMBER 2017

A VIABLE OPTION

Properly executed, the cost to construct microhospitals is often less than the expense of
expanding an existing facility with a similar
number of beds and associated services. Construction times tend to be quicker, too: The
design and construction window for a facility of that size averages only 18 to 20 months.
Once completed, a microhospital's efficient layout and economy of space typically translates
into operating costs lower than hospitals can
achieve for comparable services.
There's no universal hospital design fitting
all communities. The chief advantages of microhospitals are a more manageable size and
greater flexibility than a conventional flagship
hospital. While microhospitals won't replace the
regional hospital and campus of associated practices, they offer healthcare systems a means to
extend inpatient services into remote or underserved patient populations, and at a fraction of
the expense and time required to develop a fullsize hospital. 
Robert Garcia is vice president of healthcare advisory services at Transwestern. He can be reached
at R O B E R T. G A R C I A @ T R A N S W E S T E R N . C O M .

OFFICE AND INDUSTRIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Placing the facility within the submarket it
serves offers employees a short commute and
lets patients recover from their medical procedures close to home.
A key to the microhospital value proposition
is an efficient design that groups essential features into a microcosm of a full-sized hospital.
Workplace optimization methods pioneered
in the manufacturing and office sectors help
planners minimize the square footage required
to complete workplace tasks while improving
overall pedestrian flow and utilization of the
space, its fixtures, and equipment. Everything
from the ED to imaging, pharmacy, lab, surgical rooms, and back-office space must be sized
and positioned to meet anticipated demand
levels while providing opportunities to reduce
overall staffing. The idea is to maximize utility
while avoiding unnecessary storage and staffing, which run up costs.

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Healthcare Design - December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - December 2017