By 2025, there could be 65.2 million people in the U.S. aged 65 years old and up, compared to 47.7 million in 2015. That increase would be exponentially higher by percentage than the growth for Americans under 64, and would put seniors ever closer to 20% of the country’s total population.
The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that the number of annual primary care office visits for seniors is now more than 90 per 100 people, versus around 70 per 100 people for the next closest age group, under 15 years olds. As seniors multiply, so will the need for healthcare and, potentially, medical office space.
A new report from Transwestern estimates that over 150,000 healthcare practitioners could be added to the economy over the next two years. Therefore, the total demand for medical office space in the U.S. for physical, clinical, mental, and dental services could range anywhere from 150.5 million sf to 225.8 million sf, as per estimates by MedSpace.
As of the second quarter of 2018, there were 110 million sf of existing or under-construction medical office space in the U.S. An example of new projects is the $25.3 million, 52,704-sf, three-story OSF HealthCare medical office building that recently broke ground in Bloomington, Ill.
These numbers, though, indicate that there could be a serious shortfall in office availability going forward. “Absorption of this demand is impossible,” states the report’s author, Elizabeth Norton, Transwestern’s Managing Research Director, Mid-Atlantic Region.
Without a major shift in how healthcare is delivered, the country’s most populous areas—and especially New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Denver, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale—would have serious difficulties accommodating practitioners wishing to serve patients from a medical office, even at the low end of the projected growth range.
The country, and particularly its largest metros, are facing a serious shortage in available medical office space. Image: Transwestern
There are alternatives, suggests Norton, such as leasing in conventional office buildings where there’s ample space available. Repurposing empty retail spaces for medical use is another.
Norton also points to the emergence of new forms of healthcare, such as telemedicine, digital health, and shared service centers, as options that “could suppress future demand to some degree,” albeit depending on how quickly these nascent approaches catch on within the healthcare sector.
Earlier this year, the marketing intelligence firm Transparency Market Research estimated in a report that the so-called telehealth market in the U.S. would expand by nearly 15% to $2.8 billion by 2025. “North America and Europe are projected to dominate the global telehealth market … driven by government incentives …, technological advancements, and efforts of key players to expand their market presence,” the report stated.
Transparency Market Research has also estimated that a more robust digital health market in North America could expand by 13.4% annually to $80 billion by 2025.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Philadelphia cancer center seeks LEED certification
The New York office of Thornton Tomasetti provided structural engineering services for the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia, a $232 million medical research center and advanced treatment center for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Designed by a joint venture of Perkins Eastman Architects and Rafael Vinõly Architects, the 340,000-sf facility will hous...
| Aug 11, 2010
High-level NICU opens in Washington, D.C.
Design to the highest distinction available by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the new Level IIIC neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children's National Medical Center in Washington D.C., is equipped to care for the sickest premature babies, including those that require open-heart surgery. The 54-bed facility, designed by Karlsberger with KLMK Group as space planner, is four times large...
| Aug 11, 2010
San Bernardino health center doubles in size
Temecula, Calif.-based EDGE was awarded the contract for California State University San Bernardino's health center renovation and expansion. The two-phase, $4 million project was designed by RSK Associates, San Francisco, and includes an 11,000-sf, tilt-up concrete expansion—which doubles the size of the facility—and site and infrastructure work.
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Gouverneur Healthcare Services tops out renovation, expansion
One year after breaking ground, the Building Team for the renovation and expansion of the Gouverneur Healthcare Services facility on Manhattan's Lower East Side topped out the $180 million project. Designed by New York-based RMJM, the development involves a 316,000-sf renovation and 108,000-sf addition that will house a 295-bed nursing facility and five-story ambulatory care center.
| Aug 11, 2010
Decline expected as healthcare slows, but hospital work will remain steady
The once steady 10% growth rate in healthcare construction spending has slowed, but hasn't entirely stopped. Spending is currently 1.7% higher than the same time last year when construction materials costs were 8% higher. The 2.5% monthly jobsite spending decline since last fall is consistent with the decline in materials costs.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
National Intrepid Center tops out at Walter Reed
SmithGroup, Turner Construction, and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF), a nonprofit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families, celebrated the overall structural completion of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis, and treatment of military personnel and veterans sufferin...
| Aug 11, 2010
Alabama hospital gets a four-story addition
Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction has completed the North Tower addition at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, Ala. The four-story, 123,000-sf addition accommodates an ER on the first floor, 32 private patient rooms and nursing support on the second and third floors, and room for 32 planned patient rooms on the top floor.
