ROYAL OAK, MI-Beaumont Hospitals, the locally-based regional health system, has hired Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Healthcare Solutions Group to manage and maintain its 8.5 million square feet of facilities and equipment. The Chicago-based JLL has formed a partnership with the former local manager, Beaumont subsidiary Beaumont Services Co.

Through the agreement, JLL will provide all of the health care facility services, including facility management, construction program management, utility operations, energy and sustainability services, property management, biomedical equipment maintenance and service management, lease administration, portfolio strategy and real estate transaction services. The Beaumont system includes three regional hospitals in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, with more than 1,700 beds, 14,000 employees and 3,700 physicians, as well as multiple community-based medical centers.

The management contract also includes management of any leases, and scouting for new property needs, says Peter Bulgarelli, COO for the JLL group. The team will even provide management to acute care hospital systems, something that isn’t much done in the facilities management field, Bulgarelli tells GlobeSt.com. “This industry is largely untapped,” he says. “Many hospitals use management firms on a project-by-project basis. Not a lot is outsourced.”

This type of partnership is a trend of the future, Bulgarelli says. The group plans to copy this partnership at other health care systems across the country. “This service will now be called Jones Lang LaSalle at Beaumont Hospital. We should be able to drive efficiency and improve quality. The health care space is a big opportunity for our industry,” he says.