The pandemic has caused long-term effects on all sectors, but the real estate industry has seen the most. With everyone having to maintain social distancing, office spaces are becoming an unnecessary investment for most businesses.
While some businesses can adopt a work-from-home operations process, the same cannot be said for the health sector. Maintaining a medical office space is vital while continuing the health services offered by different practices, whether a general practice or specialized dentistry office.
Managing real estate can be difficult in a post-pandemic time, but certain strategies can be followed to overcome these challenges.
More Space, the Merrier
Social distancing will be here to stay; therefore, you must change your practice space to accommodate maximum social distancing. When your patients can see that you prioritize their health above all, they are likely to choose your practice.
To do this, you must audit your current space and see if it can be optimized to follow social distancing norms. If not, you will have to begin searching for a larger area that can house patients at safe distances.
Semi-Prime Locations
If your practice has always been in a prime real estate location, chances are you are paying hefty monthly rentals. Considering the pandemic situation, most people will try to avoid going to areas that are heavily populated. They would even prefer traveling a longer distance if it means there won’t be too many people in a particular area.
You can shift your practice to a semi-prime location to avoid the exorbitant rental fees and attract more patients.
Utilize Space Well
The time of having big offices and unnecessary structures is gone. Space utilization is a must. You must reconfigure your medical office space to allow for more patients, equipment, and data storage.
While office spaces were also created to give a good ambiance, now the need has shifted to functionality and form. For your medical business to thrive, you must delete all the unwanted capital investments and put money into things that significantly impact your business and your patients. Proper and optimum space utilization is essential for these purposes.
Facilities for Employees
You probably take good care of your employees, but now it is even more important to provide a safe and healthy environment for them. As a category of frontline workers, your employees need the appropriate space to do their job well.
This means you will need to provide them a dedicated space to be mask-free when they are not attending to patients. This is the key to keeping your practice afloat, as they are the ones who deal with patients. Wearing protective wear at all times can be tiring. This space will provide them with the opportunity to take rest between shifts and tasks.
Overall, real estate in a post-pandemic environment is about understanding what your staff and customers need and expect to stay safe. All medical practices must have spaces that are big enough to offer a safe experience. Only when such considerations are taken into place will you be able to continue offering help to patients in a well-organized medical space.
