First impressions are important in the healthcare setting. Taking a hospitality mindset and seeing facilities through the eyes of the patient can go a long way toward improving the care experience, according to a fall 2025 survey posted by JLL.
Real estate factors play an important role in attracting consumers to healthcare facilities, while providing a pleasant experience while they are there. This is especially important for healthcare providers facing tighter budgets.
Consumers face a variety of access, coverage and affordability challenges when it comes to healthcare in the United States. Low-income thresholds and those who lack health insurance coverage are significantly less likely to seek preventative and primary care, while cuts to Medicare and Marketplace insurance subsidies could put further strain on the uninsured population and health systems.
As such, healthcare systems and providers must balance access to care with cost, which might include expanding higher-margin services using demographic-driven analyses and focusing on reducing operating expenses through strategic facilities management and energy efficiency, JLL noted.
In addition, CRE should prioritize convenience and navigation to improve patient care. Location and convenience ranked among the most important factors to consumers when choosing a provider and care experience. Most patients choose a provider based on insurance coverage, but where the facility is, ranked as the second most important factor.
Patients in rural areas typically have to travel further to access care, typically more than 30 minutes for inpatient care, outpatient surgery and specialist care. Meanwhile, suburban residents had the quickest travel time to receive care, with nearly a third only having to travel 10 minutes.
Convenience and ease of navigation have a strong correlation with a positive patient experience, the survey found. Wait times and comfort in waiting areas were the biggest contributors to the perception of either a positive or negative experience. Quality of the facilities also ranked highly, particularly for emergency and inpatient care, where patients are more likely to spend a longer period of time than those visiting an office for a scheduled appointment.
Those who rated their provider highly were typically satisfied with factors like ease of parking and the length of the walk from the parking lot to the provider's office. For CRE decision-makers, the upshot is that improved wayfinding and parking are important to consider, as is the journey the patient takes through the facility.
The use of technology in healthcare can impact a patient’s choice of provider and improve their experience. Patients surveyed cite ease of scheduling as a key factor when choosing a primary care provider, a task that can be facilitated with online tools. Patients also continue to place a high value on telehealth, citing convenience. CRE departments can capture the benefits of technology by including artificial intelligence to increase efficient use of facilities, according to JLL.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.