Conversion projects don’t come without significant challenges. When transforming an office into a healthcare facility, the building will likely need new utility services, mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure, and vertical transportation modifications, at a minimum. How quickly and easily these changes can be made depends on the existing structure of the building.
A new project in Flushing, New York, is slated for delivery in late 2021 and set to become a landmark for top-quality healthcare in the area.
The Eastern Mirage Medical Center, connected to the five-star Eastern Mirage Hotel, will help satisfy increased patient demand for state-of-the-art medical facilities, propelling the associated practices and medical institutions to enhance business growth.
This medical center represents the outcome of more than ten years of design and planning and incorporates the most advanced technology available to hospitals today — critical selling points considering the pressure physicians face in attracting and retaining high-income patients after a tumultuous year.
According to the developer, Fleet Financial Group’s Richard Xia, the concept of the Eastern Mirage Medical Center reveals the symbiotic relationship potential for medical offices and hospitality, creating a steady flow of travelers for the hotel as well as a more welcoming, hospitality-inspired setting for the medical office itself.
“Patients have raised the bar for their medical experiences,” said Xia. “Physicians and healthcare institutions that attune themselves to those needs and successfully blend hospitality and healthcare will remove barriers to growing their practice and find themselves in great demand.”
Here are three factors guiding the development of the Eastern Mirage Medical Center that every healthcare operation must take into account in order to remain competitive:
A modern and futuristic medical environment reassures patients they’re in good hands and inspires confidence they’ve secured the top physicians in the field. However, few legacy buildings in the healthcare space can support truly high-tech renovations, and those that do cannot do so seamlessly.
High-tech features refer to much more than the latest computers and software. With truly integrated healthcare and hospitality, the building itself becomes a conductor of convenience, applying technology to the patient experience to make sure it is seamless, efficient, and comfortable.
The first example that came to mind for Xia was the Eastern Mirage Medical Center’s direct fiber optic connection, which enables lightning-fast data transmission between practitioners in the medical center and patients in the hotel as well as between practitioners themselves.
“With so many physicians shifting their patient data to the cloud, Internet speed and security has become a fundamental component of success,” explained Xia. “Faster and higher-quality connection and imaging means doctors can make a better assessment of their patient and deliver a more responsive, connected patient experience.”
At the Eastern Mirage Medical Center, integrated high-tech features include:
•5G Fiber optics directly wired into each office and connected to the hotel, offering physicians a high-speed, non-interrupted network connection from medical office to suite
• Facial and voice recognition security features for offices and elevators to create an almost completely touchless patient experience
• Full-capacity BMS system which offers unparalleled oversight and control over HVAC system, indoor air quality, and pressure
Many physicians are surprised to learn that amenities can be a larger factor in driving traffic to hospitals than clinical quality. In fact, the design of a hospital and recovery environment can have a significant impact on everything related to patient recovery, including patient satisfaction, costs, infection, and outcomes —which is why there’s so much demand among patients for human-centric and aesthetically-pleasing hospital design.
The design of the Eastern Mirage Medical Center takes this research into account, ensuring doctors can provide their patients with a beautiful, modern, and relaxing building that inspires patient confidence. Modern medical centers like this take the work out of providing a flawless patient experience, with every detail thought-out in advance: stunning views, quiet solitude in the midst of a bustling city, and thoughtful, healthful food and dining experiences all in one space.
“We see beautiful architecture, design, and amenities directly contribute to the quality of medical services,” said Xia. “This gives patients the best possible experience while allowing doctors to justify the premium charges associated with their high-quality services and grow the prestige of their practices.”
A few of the architectural and design traits of the Eastern Mirage Medical Center include the following:
• Five-layer panoramic glass curtain wall with heat insulation, sound absorption (-51db) and light transmission to provide a gorgeous view of the city and very little noise pollution despite its convenient location near the LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• Architecturally the tallest building in downtown Flushing, further distinguished by its striking glass curtain wall and high ceiling height ranging from 11ft to 14ft
• Safe and nontoxic recycling of environmentally friendly building materials, including Turkish marble whole-stone floor and Portugal limestone sinks
For physicians that serve high-income patients, the quality of the appointment, procedure, recovery, and visiting experiences is of utmost importance. But it’s almost impossible to meet those standards as a stand-alone or individual practice in a legacy or refurbished building — your discerning patients will never feel quite at home.
A luxury medical and recovery experience like the one at the Eastern Mirage Medical Center removes all of those barriers. Physicians plug-and-play their practices into an ecosystem of world-class hospitality, comfort, and privacy, without having to plan or develop it themselves.
“It’s very difficult to replicate a high-income patient’s high-end lifestyle away from home, but we’ve done it here,” said Xia. “The Eastern Mirage Medical Center allows medical professionals to offer their patients a private, restful place to recover from their appointments and procedures, with all the comforts of home and convenience of a world-class hotel.”
At the Eastern Mirage Medical Center, world-class hospitality and privacy features include:
• More than 300 private underground parking spaces and 4 barrier-free elevators to enhance the door-to-door service experience
• Medical offices integrated with a self-operated, high-end hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant
• Unbeatable dining, entertainment, and leisure components including an above-ground fish tank pool and hotel-affiliated medical spa
• Over 34,000 SF of well-designed multifunction green outdoor space with privacy protection throughout the entire building
A new generation of technology is available to medical care providers, and a new generation of patients wants access to it. Physicians and medical practices that want a place in the future of healthcare must secure a facility like the Eastern Mirage Medical Center that meets patients’ high standards for visual aesthetics, hospitality, technology, and medical care.
Are you interested in elevating the quality and luxury of your patient experience? Call Compass Commercial at 844-896-9210 (toll-free), or click here to learn more about the Eastern Mirage Medical Center.
Source: Fierce Healthcare
The next time you visit your physician, your appointment may very well be virtual from the comfort of your own home.
Telehealth, or telemedicine, was an emerging part of healthcare delivery long before COVID-19. Now, the pandemic has catapulted the concept into national awareness. Changes in insurance reimbursement have expanded the availability of telehealth, with new implications for healthcare real estate occupiers, owners and investors.
What does “telehealth” mean, exactly? It encompasses electronic, interactive services ranging from a simple phone call or email with a clinician to a virtual exam with a caregiver for the purpose of diagnosis, intervention or ongoing care management. It’s enabled by such platforms as Doxy.me and NextGen Healthcare that make it easy to accept payments or insurance information in conjunction with an appointment.
Despite the convenience and effectiveness of telehealth, and the growth of secure telehealth platforms over the past decades, its pre-pandemic use was limited because of insurer reimbursement restrictions, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) patient data privacy requirements, and practitioner concerns about malpractice.
However, when states began to enact stay-at-home orders in early March in response to the pandemic, telehealth gained new attention among policymakers as a solution to providing healthcare without further jeopardizing patient health. As a result, provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act lifted restrictions on where, how and with whom Medicare patients can access virtual care.
For the first time ever, there may be a critical mass of patients and practitioners alike able to tap the benefits of telehealth, mostly substituting onsite appointments with simple e-visits. Now, Medicare patients can access telehealth services from their own homes and healthcare providers can deliver service from any healthcare facility. Telehealth visits can take place via any phone with audio/video capabilities, using common consumer platforms such as FaceTime and Skype. Also important, first-time patient visits via telehealth are now eligible for Medicare coverage, too. Any healthcare professionals eligible to bill Medicare for their services can now bill Medicare for telehealth services, too.
The acceleration of telehealth adoption may have been forced out of necessity during the pandemic. However, its use will likely continue to grow even after the pandemic fades.
In the post-pandemic era, the ease, efficiency and convenience of telehealth care will increase patient commitment and retention, and potentially lead to more in-person appointments for follow-up care. Telehealth also improves compliance with prescribed treatment plans, including follow-through on required appointments.
Also critical, telehealth enables patients in even the most remote and underserved locations to access care. And, it may prove to be especially well-suited for remote management of long-term chronic conditions such as allergies, diabetes and multiple sclerosis, and for monitoring such treatments as infusions and pacemakers.
As medical technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, an increasingly sophisticated suite of implantable and wearable devices, or even robotic telemedicine carts, will enhance home monitoring and management capabilities. Healthcare providers who implement this device-enabled “hospital at home” concept can help patients maintain their long-term health safely.
Clearly, telehealth usage has surged in 2020 to occupy a much more prominent place within the care spectrum than ever before. However, it’s important to keep the trend in perspective. According to FAIR Health’s private healthcare insurance claims data, only 0.17 percent of all services, or less than one-fifth of 1 percent, were provided via telehealth in the first quarter of 2019. In 2020, first quarter usage jumped to about 7.5 percent of services. April and May usage—data is not yet available—is forecasted to be higher than previous months. Thus, while telehealth usage has grown dramatically, its role in the healthcare service delivery spectrum continues to be secondary.
Yet, the long term may reveal a different story. As healthcare providers look to drive down costs while boosting reimbursements, telehealth’s role will likely become more prominent. As a result, many healthcare providers will need to reconfigure their facilities to provide HIPAA-compliant, technology-enabled spaces for the provision of telehealth and remote health monitoring services.
In light of the telehealth trend, the following are four steps healthcare occupiers, owners and investors should consider for the future of their facilities:
Develop telehealth care provider suites. Although patients will be able to participate in telehealth calls and remote health monitoring at home, practitioners will still need space for calls or electronic communications, as well as for remote monitoring and diagnostic equipment. Medical office buildings could provide suites for technicians and nurses to virtually manage intensive care, emergency and home care patients, for example. These spaces would require Internet redundancy, appropriate lighting, screens and acoustics, and assured patient-caregiver privacy for HIPAA regulatory compliance.
Reconfigure public spaces. Even as healthcare providers transition more basic care and monitoring services to online delivery, patients will still need office visits for advanced treatments, extensive physical evaluations and for use of advanced diagnostic equipment. However, the pandemic already has led healthcare providers to rethink their waiting room management to allow for social distancing. For instance, some providers ask patients to wait in their cars rather than in the waiting room and use text messaging to alert patients of their appointments.
With widespread adoption of digital patient registration and text messaging, less waiting room space will be needed even after the pandemic. An onsite kiosk, for example, could be used by patients to register upon entry, and possibly could support healthcare service delivery in other ways.
Reconfigure and repurpose healthcare delivery spaces. Many facilities will require interior reconfigurations, renovations and build-outs to support the transition to telehealth services. The adoption of telehealth care delivery will likely reduce the number of physical exam rooms needed in a healthcare facility and will free up square footage for other purposes. With less space required for physical exams, facilities can prioritize space for high-value imaging, diagnostics, injectables, wound care, advanced and acute treatments, obstetrics and laboratory services.
As pandemic-related financial losses continue to mount across the healthcare sector, telehealth offers the potential to provide efficient, effective patient care while maximizing productivity-per-square-foot of healthcare real estate. For some healthcare providers, telehealth adoption could dramatically reduce the need for office space or increase the need for different kinds of spaces, depending on the services provided. Whatever the situation, healthcare providers, owners and investors have always been adept at adaptation—and many are already positioned to pursue the possibilities of telehealth.
Source: GlobeSt
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