Profound Changes to Healthcare's Physical Space

ROHNERT PARK, CA—As GlobeSt.com just previously reported, San Ramon, CA-based Meridian Property Co. has just welcomed its newest tenant, Petaluma Health Center to the medical office building at 5900 State Farm Dr. The company will occupy the entire second floor, or 34,813 square feet. Meridian COO, John Pollock previously told GlobeSt.com that it is “a great example of a provider taking advantage of a larger contiguous space to establish a patient-centered medical home that is close to their patients, which will foster a collaborative approach to the delivery of care, resulting in better outcomes and greater patient satisfaction.”

In an update to that article, Pollock tells GlobeSt.com that “We have come a long way from the days of Marcus Welby medicine and those changes are going to continue at an unprecedented pace with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, changing technology, the rise of consumer awareness, and the need to move toward a value-based reimbursement model.”

Those changes, Pollock says, are having a profound effect on the physical space where healthcare is being delivered. “Meridian continues to seek out buildings that can meet the needs of this changing delivery model with an eye on buildings that provider larger contiguous space,” he explains.

“The incentives, penalties and mandates of the ACA require systems to place increasing focus on operational efficiencies with more flexible floor plans, team work rooms, shared common areas and integrated technology; this will create some winners and losers in the medical office space,” Pollock says. “Meridian is focused on older building that can be updated to meet the provider's requirements at prices or lease rates that allow them to deliver better care at a lower cost.”

When talking about providers, Pollock notes that they “will need lower cost outpatient centers in convenient locations, with hours that meet the consumer's schedules, to reduce the use of their far more costly inpatient facilities. Meridian has been busy over the past two years building numerous outpatient centers from dense urban areas to underserved medical neighborhoods, as well as several retail outparcels.”

According to Pollock, there has been more of a desire by providers for locations with visibility and ease of access as they work to increase their market share, size and scale. “In an environment of declining reimbursements, critical mass, efficient operation, and geographic expansion are becoming increasingly important to providers,” he says. “Meridian recently completed an outpatient center in a Home Depot outparcel in Pomona, CA, and is working on a grocery adjacent parcel in Walnut Creek, CA, which are examples of the trend to be visible and convenient to patients.”