News
HEALTHCARE CRE WILL "UNLEASH ECONOMIC FORCES"
May 8, 2012
| Nearly 400 joined us for our Healthcare Real Estate Summit at the Union League Thursday. The big take-away: Small outpatient clinics probably won't be able to survive on their own much longer—with the rising costs of IT infrastructure—so look for lots of consolidation. Read on to see what that means for the industry. |
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| Health Realty Advisors' president Michael Goldenberg, who moderated one panel, shared a few industry stats, including the fact that "26% of all the jobs in the city of Philadelphia are healthcare jobs." (The national average is about 15%, so if you have to get sick it might be best to do it here.) He also added that "over one-third of all the commercial space in the city is owned or occupied by healthcare organizations or higher education." |
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| Virtua CEO Richard Miller says his New Jersey-based nonprofit plans to focus more of its delivery model around wellness and prevention. (Virtua already runs three health-and-fitness centers in South Jersey.) Richard says the current hospital model isn't working because it's too expensive. And regardless of how thehealthcare reform vote sways with the Supremes, change is going to happen. He added that small community hospitals and other ambulatory care facilities should already be looking for potential consolidation partners. |
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| Temple University Health System CEO Larry Kaiser (the world's greatest sock model) agreed that the market is ripe for consolidation, particularly due to the fact that two payers (IBC and Aetna) currently control 80% of the Philadelphia healthcare market. He added that once Temple completes its consolidation with Fox Chase Cancer Center, TUHS will be a $1.6B organization. Larry tells us the merger is expected to close in as little as two or three months. |
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| Christiana Care CEO Robert Laskowski says that despite the trend toward consolidation, his organization's main focus is the people it serves. He added that Christiana is looking to move toward bigger buildings and integrated services ; new MOB construction, he says, won't provide the most value to Christiana's patients. "Growth is a means to an end for us." |
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| Einstein Healthcare Network CEO Barry Freedman says the current healthcare model is entirely unsustainable, on both the federal and state levels of spending. He adds that the inevitable changes aheadtranslate into "unleashed economic forces" in general, and untold opportunities for the CRE sector. |
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| Above, Einstein's Montgomery facility will be the first new Southern PA medical center in over a decade when it opens on Sept. 29. Barry adds that he's particularly bullish on the healthcare industry's current and future real estate needs, from square footage and development capabilities to cold, hard capital. |
