No size fits all
As healthcare reform continues to be a topic full of questions rather than answers, it brings with it a set of parallel changes that are already being implemented in an attempt to be at least one step ahead once the floodgates open. The rise in medical office buildings (MOB) that are either being built or renovated to accommodate Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) is a reflection of a number of industries looking ahead and trying to gauge the right delivery of healthcare for a population that will need such varying levels of care.
But, of course, the large hospital campus as a one-stop shop is still an integral part of the healthcare delivery system. However, the swells of people that some ERs experience cannot always be solved with an ever-increasing building footprint. At some point there has to be another solution, and so far the trending seems to be the neighborhood MOB. This is the dawn of healthcare coming to the community's doorstep.
Will this ease the numbers that may potentially descend upon existing healthcare facilities once reform has transformed? Yes, yet another question. But the future approaches a lot faster than is always anticipated, and these questions will no longer have the luxury of discussion and debate.