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Pro Tips From Medical Office Buildings To Avoid COVID-19

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Do you own or operate commercial real estate? Do you worry how to keep your properties safe during the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus? You can learn a lot from medical office buildings.

Long before doctors diagnosed the first COVID-19 infection, the owners of medical office buildings were thinking about how to stop the spread of disease. They have even identified a few key renovations that make a difference.

“They exercised a high standard for sanitizing their space, even pre-COVID-19, and are acutely aware of the transmission of infection,” says Joseph Fetterman, executive vice president of Colliers’ Healthcare and Life Science brokerage practice in the Philadelphia region.

Medical office owners and investors have a huge motive to prove that their buildings can operate safely, without spreading the novel coronavirus. As the crisis caused by COVID-19 drags on, businesses that can operate safely are more likely stay open—and keep paying rent.

“We have not seen closures of medical office buildings… We are operating fully in the facilities we manage,” says Kimberly Lamb, executive director of healthcare corporate solutions for JLL. “When most other buildings were shut down, our medical office buildings operated throughout, keeping open to serve the physicians and their patients, albeit with a trimmed back staff for the clinics but they operated the whole time.”

Fresh Air Matters

Because COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, owners of medical office buildings focus on how to keep viral particles out of the air in their buildings. Improving the heating ventilation and air conditioning systems can make a big difference, as can bringing more outside air into structures.

“It is common for the property manager to upgrade filters to MERV-13 and increase fresh air supply,” says Connie O’Murray, managing director of property management for JLL. “So far, however, most managers are not installing systems that use ultra-violet light to disinfect indoor air—they haven’t yet been proven to be effective and are not suitable for all buildings.”

Medical office buildings also ask their patients and staff to wear masks—to filter the air they breathe—and manage how their patients move through buildings. Many medical service providers now ask their patients to register online to bypass the risk posed by crowding into waiting rooms.

“Triage for COVID positive patients is being conducted through telemedicine, outside where possible or in isolated space removed from other patients,” says Fetterman. “Waiting rooms are either more distanced by removing chairs or restricting chairs that can be used.”

“It is all about getting them in to see their doctor and back out as quickly as possible,” says Bob Atkins, principal of the Atkins Cos. in a recent podcast for NREI.

“A lobby registration kiosk could also perform this function,” says Audrey Symes, research director for healthcare and life sciences for JLL.

For some medical offices, that means cutting back on staff who share the air in the limited space of an office. Hospital executives are evaluating which positions can effectively be done remotely on a permanent basis.

“We are hearing potential administrative footprint reduction targets of 50 to 75 percent,” says JLL’s Lamb. “Any vacancy administrative space may create would be absorbed by clinical needs as we move forward.”

Keeping MOBs Clean

All medical offices are disinfecting their spaces to at least the standard set by federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

“Some owners are going above CDC standards for operating the facility to be vigilant,” says Lamb.

Disinfection reaches an even higher level if a patient seems likely to carry the virus.

“When we have a patient who has been reported as presenting positive, we shut down the area and path in which the patient took to allow any spores to dissipate and then thoroughly sanitize the areas before opening back up to the public,” says Lamb.

Property managers are also finding ways to use ways copper metal to kill the virus. Coronavirus particles break apart within hours of landing on copper surfaces. In comparison, they can remain active and lethal for days on surfaces like steel or plastic, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

Owners and operators could replace doorknobs and touch plates with brass, which includes enough copper to kill the virus. But that’s often prohibitively expensive.

“What we have heard about and are seeing is copper foil tape wrap on door handles or placed on touchpoints such as elevator buttons,” says O’Murray.

Managers can also reduce the number of surfaces people have to touch by installing automatic doors or kickplates to open manual doors. In bathrooms, managers can slow down the flush times on toilet and install toilet seats with covers to limit the spread of aerosol droplets into the air, according to O’Murray.

Medical Offices Are Used To Controlling Infections

Long before the crisis caused by COVID-19, the professionals who operate medical office space tried to make sure visitors to their facilities did not make each other sick. Most of the techniques above were developed over the years to avoid “healthcare-associated infections.” The majority of medical office buildings are located on a hospital campus, often physically connected to a hospital.

“This alone creates a different mode of operation and management than any other type of real estate,” says Lamb. “There is a higher level of risk.”

The coronavirus pandemic has heightened the danger. Often people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are in the same building as people who are especially vulnerable to the virus, because of age or a compromised immune system, for example.

“Professionally managed medical office buildings are operated as safely, if not more so, than a typical office building,” says Connie O’Murray. “As our knowledge of the virus evolves over time, so, too, do the approaches and innovations towards mitigation.”

 

Source: NREI

Coronavirus Could Push Jacksonville Into Becoming A Life Science Cluster

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North Florida could benefit from future research related to the coronavirus.

Michael Brown, senior director for office services for Colliers International in Jacksonville, who is a life sciences CRE specialist, believes clusters will continue to develop around the University of Florida and Alachua and around the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

“There are some very talented people in this region at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Florida, as well as some world-class contract manufacturing operations in Alachua,” Brown tells GlobeSt.com. “There will be companies seeking out their help, particularly in a time like this. I can also see other contract manufacturers and contract research groups giving North Florida serious consideration for expansion. Companies are being funded and good science is finding its way into labs. There are positive developments that offer promise. We are going to see a lot of push and pull. If this goes on for a much longer period of time than anyone hopes, I think there will be more detrimental issues and things that are unforeseen such as supply chains collapsing. But there is a silver lining out there as well. The science developed recently over the last two years has been way ahead of the innovation curve in terms of discovery. Manufacturing processes are getting better. The science itself, even if it is postponed or interrupted, will still be good science when it’s sitting on the shelf and not doing anything for a while.”

The country’s main life science clusters are well-established-Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and North Carolina’s Research Triangle—but there are secondary markets that are slowly gaining density and Brown asserts that Jacksonville has the foundation to become a small cluster. He cites land availability, transportation infrastructure and science coming out of the region’s universities.

“The academic underpinning is essential and it bodes well for Jacksonville,” Brown says.

Many challenges lie ahead, but Brown is optimistic that the life sciences sector in the US has the building blocks in place.

“My feeling is that when this does end, that ramping back up in pursuit of this science is going to be difficult and will require funding and new regulations, but it can be done and it’s not as though we’ve had companies out there failing in what they are pursuing,” Brown says. “I don’t want to say we will pick up right where we left off, but this particular industry will bounce back and it will bounce back with lessons learned along the way that will be very much process oriented.”

 

Source: GlobeSt

Health-Centered Communities May Start To Resonate In Coronavirus Era

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Health-centered communities, neighborhoods where millennials, baby boomers, technological advances, and new health care delivery models all converge, can be the blueprint of urban and suburban planning even in the age of COVID-19 and especially post-COVID-19, says Dennis Frenchman, Director of the MIT Center for Real Estate and the Class of 1922 Professor of Urban Design and Planning.

“Baby boomers are looking for convenient, affordable, aging-in-place health care options. Millennials, meanwhile, are pursuing physical environments that support their well-being and community-centric values,” Frenchman tells GlobeSt.com. “Our goal is to provide a blueprint for how to navigate these complex and profound demographic and cultural shifts taking shape throughout our society.”

Frenchman and his colleague, Stanley Shaw, plan on offering the course, Developing Health-Centered Communities: The Next Revolution.” in Real Estate in the Fall.

Baby boomers are aging and healthcare is foremost on their mind while most millennials are trying to lead healthy lifestyles by eating healthy foods and leading active social lives.

“These two generations are colliding in terms of health and wellness,” observes Frenchman.

Another plus to these communities for baby boomers how older buildings relate to their health.

“Living and working in an older, poorly ventilated building can negatively contribute to your health and longevity,” explains Frenchman. “If you have better quality air, sunlight and an overall healthy environment, landlords and developers can get premium rents.”

For these and other reasons, millennials are now suggesting their parents move to a health-centered community where parents can age in place instead of assisted-living facilities. As a result, the younger generation has more contact with the older generation, Frenchman says.

These communities tend to feature health centers in addition to the ubiquitous clubhouse. The developers also encourage walking around the community instead of driving everywhere. Instead of flattening hills, developers keep them intact to promote more exercise and movements.

“Health-centered communities also feature bike trails, social opportunities, horse stables and wellness programs,” says Frenchman. “Developers who offer these products will garner a lot of interest from all age groups.”

COVID-19

People are naturally social animals and the coronavirus has thrown a wrench in attending or hosting social events. In this age of social distancing however, healthy-centered communities can easily adapt to not interacting or engaging at any given time.

“Technology will solve some of the need but not necessarily all. However, it can work for a period of time,” explains Frenchman. “With digital technology, and in a health-centered community, patients are monitored remotely in their own environment. They can actually monitor their own oxygen, pollutants, carbon monoxide, etc. These tests are important for many reasons but it also shows you the physiological response of people as they live on their own environment.”

Frenchman believes these health-centered communities are simply a better way of living.

“There are less ER visits and less hospital stays,” says Frenchman. “Encouraging people to use their body and minds and overall just take care of themselves in this age of COVID-19 is always a good thing and it can also result in profits.”

 

Source: GlobeSt.