Considering the Potential for Telehealth to Reshape Office Needs, Access for Underserved Areas

With America’s aging population and a wave of urgent care centers popping up in recent years, medical office space has been one of the safer bets for real estate investors and landlords in many markets.

Butthe sector is far from immune to disruption. Telepresence robots are beginningto appear in intensive-care wards and patients increasingly get access to doctorsby phone, mobile app, or computer. The rise of “telehealth” could further shrinkor shift traditional office space demand, according to a speaker at ULICentral Florida’s Real Estate Trends 360° Conference, held at the new Harriet’s Orlando Ballet Centrenorth of downtown Orlando.

“Itused to be home visits; then doctors went to the office model; then theypartnered with a health care system,” said Jonathan Baker-McBride, corporate managerfor telehealth at Orlando Health, a hospital network based in Orlando.“Telehealth is going to be that next step that urgent care can’t fill.”

Atthe intensive care unit of Orlando Health, a robot already travels the floor.It makes up for its lack of bedside manner by providing remote access to surgeonsand medical professionals on a video monitor. With another physician at hand,those medical specialists converse with patients and check their vital signs.

Insurancecompanies and medical providers routinely address symptoms such as rashes and conjunctivitis(pink eye) with video portals that link patients at home with doctors andnurses.

Lookingahead, stroke victims may go to emergency rooms and get access to remotecardiologists in the middle of the night instead of being monitored by thephysician on call. Convalescing patients may discuss their recoveryremotely instead of making a trip to the physician’s office. At annual exams,patients could confer not only with a primary-care physician, but also with thespecialists who have treated them.

Speakingto an audience of about 300, Baker-McBride said 10,000 virtual visits areexpected this year through the Orlando Health system, up from 6,500 two yearago. Globally, the telehealth market is projected to grow at a rate of 15percent and reach $53 billion market by 2026, according to Acumen Research andConsulting.

Forthe real estate industry, the new technologies have the potential to openopportunities in some passed-over places. Rural areas and underservedcommunities could become more attractive. Residential developments too small tojustify an array of medical specialists might still want a facility whereresidents can connect with those experts for at least a few days a week, Baker-McBridesaid.

BillMoss, director of the Dr. P. Phillips Institute for Research and Education in RealEstate at the University of Central Florida, said this next generation ofhealth care is an emerging field.

“Itis certainly a logical path to be on to include that kind of technology in theworld of health care,” said Moss, a former senior managing director forCBRE.