The practice of health care is changing as the industry focuses more on outpatient services and patient comfort, according to Rasesh Thakkar, senior managing director of the Tavistock Group, a privately held investment company headquartered in the Bahamas.
More outpatient facilities along with a concentration on health and wellness and the patient's comfort level are three key trends impacting the health care real estate sector, Thakkar said in a video interview with REIT.com at the Akerman U.S. Real Estate Summit this month in Miami.
Tavistock's portfolio includes the Lake Nona community and Lake Nona Medical facility in Orlando, Fla. The community is a combination of residential homes with the medical center as the centerpiece.
"It's an 8,000-acre community, which consist of thousands of homes, millions of square feet of life science, health care oriented spaces. We're looking at how you permeate health and wellness, which means through the programming element, and then physical facilities," he said.
Thakkar added that he's come across the term "HoSPAtil" recently, which emphasizes the focus on personal services.
"They're finding that in order to deal with the competition that exists for the healthcare dollar, it's really a focus on the comfort and service level of the patient, because people have choices now days," he said.
He expects to continue to see a combination of health care as well as prevention and personal services being offered in one building or area.
"I think that the newest hospitals being built have that in mind. They'll offer services like nail care while you're in your hospital room," he said. "The whole focus is to move someone through the system and get them out of the hospital rooms."