Digital connectivity and rising costs are rapidly transforming industries across the country, and healthcare is certainly no exception. Digital health solutions and the material realities of the economy, along with a changing regulatory landscape, are reshaping the way providers deliver care.
For example, the increased uses of telehealth, artificial intelligence (AI) and more community-based facilities (such as urgent care centers) are changing the spaces providers need. This activity is, in turn, altering the real estate, construction and project management strategies for healthcare providers.
Healthcare real estate professionals, from in-house capital project leaders to general contractors and project managers, should be aware of two trends particularly driving this sea of change in healthcare real estate: evolving technology and an industry-wide transition to value-based care. These trends are fueling the creation of larger, centralized healthcare systems with more expansive networks of agile, strategic facilities.
Specifically, the industry is moving away from inpatient hospital settings and toward ambulatory care and community-based facilities as part of a larger healthcare system. In turn, built-environment professionals are being commissioned for more agile, specialized and technologically enabled capital projects over more geographically dispersed areas. With this activity comes a change to how real estate professionals deliver projects for healthcare clients and reevaluations of the skills and knowledge bases required.