Here’s Why Multiservice Healthcare Facilities Play a Critical Role in the Modernization Movement
By Ben Reinberg
Modern healthcare delivery is in the midst of a transformation, often exemplified by digital breakthroughs. As an example, utilization of telehealth in early 2021 was 38 times higher than pre-pandemic. Yet equally important is modernizing physical access to care: Ensuring patients can access comprehensive services conveniently.
Local care access for an aging population
As America grays, healthcare leaders face a “last-mile” challenge: Bringing medical services closer to the communities that need them most. Older adults typically manage multiple chronic conditions—most seniors have at least one chronic illness—requiring frequent check-ups, lab work, and specialist visits.
However, many struggle with travel. In rural communities in particular, hospital closures have decreased access, with 136 hospitals closing from 2010 to 2021 (a record 19 in 2020 alone). This leaves healthcare deserts in which patients are required to travel far distances for even primary care. For a patient who has limited mobility, distance can be a significant obstacle.
The shift to outpatient and one-stop care
An additional motivator in this trend toward multiservice facilities is the overall movement from inpatient hospital care to outpatient care. The utilization of hospital outpatient services in recent decades has risen by 31% (outpatient visits per capita rose from 1,853 in 2000 to 2,426 in 2023). At the same time, inpatient admissions have gradually declined. This outpatient revolution—accelerated by medical advances and cost pressures—means more procedures and treatments that once required a hospital stay are now done in ambulatory centers and clinics.
For patients, this shift offers clear benefits: Care delivered closer to home in a comfortable clinic setting, often at a lower cost and with shorter wait times than a hospital. Multiservice outpatient centers exemplify this new model of care. They often house primary care alongside specialties and diagnostics, creating mini-“health campuses.”
Infrastructure challenges for multiservice facilities
Building or retrofitting facilities to support diverse medical services is no small feat. Unlike single-purpose clinics, a multiservice healthcare facility must meet varied clinical infrastructure requirements all at once.
This presents structural, technical, and regulatory challenges. Moreover, all parts of the facility must comply with healthcare-specific building codes—from wider corridors and doorways (to accommodate stretchers and those with disabilities) to backup power generators and fire safety systems tuned for medical use.
Many older buildings simply aren’t compatible with modern multispecialty care needs. Traditional office buildings, for instance, often have low ceilings and inflexible floor plans that hinder the installation of medical equipment and the proper layout of exam rooms. Older structures may lack the necessary floor loading capacity for diagnostic machines or have insufficient water supply and plumbing diameters to support numerous exam sinks and restrooms.
Services combined under one roof
Despite the challenges, multiservice healthcare facilities are rapidly growing because they align with what patients need most. These centers are deliberately designed to offer a bundle of complementary services that cover the majority of routine healthcare needs. The exact mix varies by community, but several core services are in high demand across the board.
Behavioral Health Service
Numerous contemporary clinics incorporate behavioral health providers — psychologists, counselors, or psychiatrists — as part of the facility. This meets the general demand for mental assistance in a stigma-reduced environment.
Primary Care and Preventive Services
Every multispecialty hub typically includes family physicians or internists to handle annual check-ups, vaccinations, and ongoing primary care.
Diagnostics and Pharmacy
Many facilities host a basic laboratory for blood tests and specimen collection as well as imaging capabilities like X-rays or ultrasounds on-site so that patients don’t have to travel elsewhere for diagnostics.
Dentistry and Vision Care
Both oral and eye care are now understood as central aspects of general well-being, and so dental offices and optometry/ophthalmology clinics are found in newer medical centers.
Specialty and Chronic Disease Clinics
Multiservice centers may also accommodate rotating specialists or specialized clinics for chronic disease care. A cardiologist or an endocrinologist may visit the facility once a week, so patients do not have to make a trip all the way to a specialty office.
Healthcare’s modernization movement must be holistic
Yes, digital health and telemedicine are reshaping how care can be delivered remotely, but equally important is reinventing place-based care. The future of accessible, equitable healthcare will rely on bricks-and-mortar innovation as much as on bytes and bandwidth.
Multiservice healthcare facilities bring advanced care delivery into patients’ everyday lives—into their neighborhoods and local plazas—ensuring that high-quality care is not an ivory-tower privilege but a community staple.
Redefining modern healthcare one facility at a time
Patient safety and quality healthcare are essential parts of our communities and, while there are certain challenges associated with the modern way of life, required changes to infrastructure, and more, we also see innovation in both the use of facilities, as well as technology, which can really modernize the landscape in a manner that maximizes results and provides care at points of greatest necessity.
Ben Reinberg, CEO of the Alliance Consolidated Group of Companies, a commercial real estate investing company with a strong emphasis on medical properties. Reinberg and his team specialize in driving investments in industrial, warehousing, medical, retail properties, offices and multifamily housing in major markets across the United States. He is author of the book Hard Money and Hard Assets for Hard Times.