As our society ages, Simone Healthcare Development envisions a greater demand for rehabilitation complexes that require significantly more square footage per patient than hospitals.

The expanding need for rehabilitation centers is a question of demographics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans over the age of 65 will outnumber the amount of youth under 18 by 2034. Longer, more active lifespans will make the need for physical rehabilitation likelier for many seniors over the course of their golden years.

Rehabilitation centers typically offer transitional care for patients released from hospital care but who aren’t ready to function on their own. The patient visits range from a few days to two weeks for orthopedic, cardiovascular, and neurological recovery or up to months for cases of traumatic brain injury.

Increasing patient choice, high-deductible insurance plans and elective surgeries will require rehabilitation centers to compete for clients by offering greater amenities and services. Patients will seek facilities that offer calming spaces for recovery, not sterile medical suites. Space-consuming amenities include physical therapy gyms, therapy pools and upper extremity training rooms, among others.

Simone Healthcare Development understands patient and family demands for supportive services, advanced technology, privacy and amenities. We expect the 21st-century rehabilitation center to include single patient rooms, many common spaces, ample therapeutic space, accessibility to outdoor areas and family participation lounges.

Patients visiting their primary care providers see considerable evidence of technology becoming more prevalent in the examination room. Doctors use laptop computers during visits; examination equipment is now digital and wi-fi connected; and office staffers communicate with patients by text or email.

Simone Healthcare Development has accommodated technology’s growing presence by building examination rooms with high-speed internet ports and increased electrical wiring for the new gear. Now the pandemic is accelerating other healthcare trends, particularly touchless tech and automation.

We’ve already seen hands-free technology at work with hand sanitizer stations and hand-washing sinks. The endless need to sanitize surfaces to avoid contagion has some medical providers asking their landlords to modify interior doors so that they will automatically open when someone approaches.

Illness screening protocols will require many of these automated doors to be connected to thermal sensors at entrances, where the devices will temperature check visitors before doors open. Medical office landlords should expect to install more thermal sensors as the technology becomes more affordable.

Medical office builders will also have to consider how they will build self-sanitizing examination or waiting rooms and which technologies—ultraviolet lights, ceiling misting systems or others—will work best for tomorrow’s medical practices.

Simone Healthcare Development’s architects are already incorporating into their designs the post-pandemic protocols that will become permanent, while allowing space flexibility to incorporate tomorrow’s demands.

In one year of pandemic there have been remarkable transformations in healthcare delivery, according to Joseph Simone, President of Simone Development Companies.

“Practices that were once on the periphery, such as telemedicine and touch-free check-in, have become routine even for many patients who might have resisted them in pre-pandemic times. At the same time, health providers were forced to quickly redesign layouts of their facilities because of new demands from social distancing,” said Joe Simone, whose company is a leading developer of healthcare facilities.

Post-pandemic, Simone expects most health providers to convert temporary social distancing measures into permanent policies. In the short term, social distancing reminders like floor markers and hand sanitizer stations will remain. “As health providers turn to longer-term and more expensive social-distance solutions, we’ll see an overhaul in waiting room design, as providers replace old furniture with seating that is easy to wipe and disinfect. Waiting rooms may also expand, as the need to accommodate safely distanced patients continues,” said Joe Simone.

“In future construction or renovations, we may see buildings with wider hallways or multiple, one-way hallways with doors or turnstiles that only permit one-way entry or exit. More examination rooms and waiting rooms will become negative pressure environments. The need for negative pressure will require enhanced ventilation systems with new air-filtering technologies,” Simone said. “We welcome this transformation in healthcare delivery because all patients deserve peace of mind when seeking essential care and preventive medicine,” he added.