Lets face it. Managed care is squeezing the bottom line out of most medical practices. At the same time, one of the largest operating expenses for a doctors practice is rent. Focusing all of your time on increasing your income is only half of the battle. Reducing your operating expenses can also increase your bottom line. Managing expenses in your practice starts with creating a well thought-out, efficient physical platform within which to operate your practice. A well designed layout not only saves money, but enables you to deal in volume without compromising the quality of service you offer your patients.
In order to minimize the cost of your rent, you should only need to lease just enough space that you absolutely need. The waiting room and treatment rooms should be relatively small. For example, if an office is 2,000 square feet, an efficient layout could shave 20%, or 400 square feet, a possible savings of $15,000 annually.
The waiting room should be designed to accommodate 15 to 20 square feet per patient and should be designed to make patients feel comfortable. The seating of the waiting room should be asymmetrical. Patients feel uncomfortable sitting in a circle, facing each other. There should be seating areas, visual barriers, and there should be a permanent exposure of the office and reception area to the waiting area, allowing patients to view the physical activity of the medical staff while in the waiting room. There should also be visual movement within the waiting room, such as closed captioned, flat screen televisions, motion art, or calming, visual-sound devices.
The treatment room should be designed to make the patient feel comfortable, preventing the feeling of being claustrophobic. For example, the treatment room doors leading to the corridor should be French doors, but frosted for privacy. The treatment room ceilings should be painted a lighter color. The lighting should be soft and facing the ceiling. These features create the illusion of height and space, with a calming ambiance. Also, the corridors should have sconces with the lighting facing the ceiling.
A significant amount of attention should be focused on designing a file storage area that is as efficient as possible. The file storage area is merely storage and not income producing space, though it is essential for any medical operation. So, maximizing the utilization of the file storage space reduces the practitioners rental space. Therefore, a practitioner should seek professional assistance in designing and constructing file storage systems.
Savitar Realty Advisors owns almost 3 million square feet of office and medical space in six states and understands how critically important it is to have a very efficient, well thought-out design that is suited for the particular needs and operations of a tenant. One of Savitars holdings is a medical office building and known as the University Medical Plaza and is located in front of the University Hospital in Tamarac, Florida. Savitar bought this medical building two years ago, completely renovated it, and is offering it for lease to the medical community. Savitar gutted an empty space on the first floor and reconstructed it, creating an efficient, though generic, layout for a wide variety of medical users.
Chances are your practice will be situated in a space for at least five to ten years. (At the University Medical Plaza, many medical practices have been located at the University Medical Plaza for more than twenty years.) Therefore, it is critically important to invest time and some money upfront to create the most efficient and productive design of your office space that dovetails with your practice.
