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The CARES Act Is Positioning Healthcare Real Estate For A Bright Future

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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as The CARES Act, was passed with great fanfare and a lot of promise.

In a lot of ways, it hasn’t lived up to that hype as small businesses struggled to get the help that they needed. But Kyle O’Connor, President and Founder of MLL Capital, which owns medical and life sciences facilities, thinks one sector was well-positioned to benefit from The CARES Act.

“One of the things that has been a big help for the medical industry has been The CARES Act, whether it be the payroll protection program [PPP] or the other funding that went to the health systems,” O’Connor says. “That has, I believe, helped quite a bit.”

O’Connor thinks the medical sector has received many benefits from the act that haven’t been there for other sectors.

“If you look throughout the economy, not every type of business was as well suited as the health care industry was to take advantage of the payroll protection program,” O’Connor says.

The employee size limitation for PPP grants is 500 employees. Since most medical offices won’t clear that threshold, they are great candidates for that funding.

“Most medical practices plan to rehire all of their laid off or furloughed employees given they expect demand to resume,” O’Connor says. “It’s also important to note that the health systems received/will receive funding from other elements of The CARES Act. In the medical field, The CARES Act has allowed doctor’s offices to keep critical medical workers employed. The doctors can only see so many people. So the nurse practitioners, the administrative staff, all the nurses that support each individual practice are a pretty important part of the system.”

Doctors are also adopting things like telehealth to offset a decline in office visits.

“The occupiers in our buildings were organizing themselves for dealing with the issues that have been caused by the stay-at-home orders,” O’Connor says.

Once the COVID crisis eases up or clears, O’Connor does not doubt that patients will return to medical offices. And demand could be even more significant as there is pent-up demand for medical services.

“They’re going to be much more comfortable going back to the doctor, and there will be a flood of requests for appointments,” O’Connor says. “There will likely be greater levels of health care that is being provided as the impact of the stay-at-home orders dissipates.”

The support from The CARES Act, in addition to the resilience of the sector, has made O’Connor optimistic about its future.

“Medical offices and life science property types have a defensive element to them,” O’Connor says. “We are going to hold their value better than some of the other property types.”

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Doctors And Dentists Offices Begin Reopening In South Florida

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Many doctors and dentists closed their offices during the coronavirus lockdown.

Now, as they begin to reopen, it’s becoming clear that visiting the doctor’s office will come with a whole new set of rules. As things slowly start to creep toward normality places like dentists offices are figuring out what a new normal is going to look like.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, dentist offices have had a tough choice to make; whether to remain open for emergencies or close completely, to ensure their patients, staff, and families were safe.

“I have a newborn that was born in February, so going home after that’s going on with COVID, you want to take those extra precautions,” said Dr. Joshua Golden with West Sunrise Dentistry. “But I knew this is what I signed up for once I became a dentist. I need to take care of my patients.”

Doctor Golden said that’s why he chose to stay open, seeing patients through virtual means for minor situations and in person, for more serious stuff.

“We would basically triage the patient over the phone, see what they needed,” Dr. Golden explained. “Let’s say it’s a broken tooth. If it’s a broken tooth, it’s sharp, it’s hurting you, that is an emergency.”

It was the same for Doctor Arnaldo Lopez of the Somi Dental Group in South Miami. He told Local 10 News‘ Ian Margol they had patients come from as far as Naples and Fort Myers for help because there were so few offices open. And Lopez says, they were learning on the fly.

“Every day was completely different,” said Dr. Lopez. “Some days we might have one patient and I would have half of the staff come in, and out of nowhere five patients would call and I would have to call the staff last-minute because they were all basically on call.”

Click here to view the WPLG Local 10 News video ‘Closed For Coronavirus, Many South Florida Doctors And Dentists Begin Reopening Offices‘

 

Source: Local 10 News