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Page 10 — Health Care Properties Quarterly — October 2017
Design
St. Francis Medical Center Expansion | Colorado Springs, CO
The power of ingenuity...
...the rewards of trusting relationships.
ENRICHING
Community
People
Ideas
E ven after the two most
recent failed attempts in the
Senate to repeal the Afford-
able Care Act, the health care
industry is still left in a state
of uncertainty wondering what
will come under scrutiny next. This
state of influx has a trickle-down
effect on health care design and
building practices where hospital
systems are shifting from large
medical campuses to smaller out-
patient facilities such as medical
office buildings.
While MOBs certainly are not a
new building type, they are becom-
ing a staple in the architecture,
engineering and construction
health care industry subject to sev-
eral design trends.
MOBs first took shape as a solu-
tion for large hospital systems seek-
ing to move nonacute medical ser-
vices to off-campus facilities, and
typically included standard doctors’
and dentists’ offices, urgent care
clinics and diagnostic laboratories.
In the last five years, designers have
noted several trends in the MOB
marketplace that include a greater
diversity of MOB tenants, designs
influenced by emerging medical
practices, and health care emulat-
ing design features in other indus-
try sectors.
Diversity of MOB Tenants
MOBs are not just for general
practitioners and dentists anymore,
as specialized provider-specific
offices are becoming more com-
monplace. One such type of MOB on
the rise lately includes brain-care
facilities. These facility-types can
be likened to an
“adult day-care
center,” where
health care provid-
ers are furnishing
a place for the
aging baby boom-
ers to interact
and socialize, all
while receiving
proper medical
care. According to
the U.S. Census
Bureau’s latest
report in June, the
nation’s older population is still
growing with 49.2 million people
aged 65 and over in 2016, as com-
pared to only 35 million aged 65
and over in 2000. These aging baby
boomers will continue to influ-
ence health care design to provide
a variety of needs beyond those
offered at a standard hospital facil-
ity.
Another increasing MOB tenant-
type is that of skincare specialists
or estheticians. According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, estheti-
cian employment is projected to
grow 12 percent from 2014 to 2024.
BLS indicates that this percentage
growth is faster than average for
all other occupations. The matur-
ing baby boomers also are seem-
ingly contributing to this increase
in MOB tenant type as this grow-
ing population segment seeks to
reduce the effects of aging. Special-
ized MOB designs for estheticians
call for a more “beau monde” style
where the offices reflect a modern
salon as opposed to a sterile medi-
cal office.
Medical Care Practices
As a subset of the health care
construction market, MOB designs
are influenced by emerging health
care practices. As physicians start
to embrace more technological
advancements in their daily rou-
tines, MOBs are beginning to reflect
these changes in their overall
design and construction.
For example, with the advent of
all-electronic recordkeeping, the
need for large file rooms for medi-
cal record storage become obsolete.
This once necessary storage space
can now provide more square foot-
age for a roomier lobby/check-in
area or the ability to have more
flex space to add or subtract medi-
cal care rooms. In addition, with
greater efficiencies in scheduling of
medical appointments online with
texting services, and online doc-
tor visits where patients can Skype
with doctors for certain nonemer-
gency circumstances, less staff is
needed on-site. This trend leads to
smaller units for MOBs, where build-
Keith E. Moore,
AIA
Architect, RMG,
Monument
The lobby/waiting area of the Colorado Springs Health Partners Medical Office Building,
which was designed by RMG.