By Healthcare Facilities Today

New healthcare legislation, and the after-effects of the Great Recession are creating opportunities to rethink clinic design, including this recent trend in retail conversions, according to a blog on the Healthcare Design magazine website. 

With the rise of empty big-box retail spaces nationally, many healthcare organizations are finding cost-effective solutions to their facility needs by converting former stores into clinics, wrote blogger Christine Guzzo Vicker, HGA Architects and Engineers.

"The trend offers built-in benefits—many former stores are accessible to the community, offer ample parking, are integrated with the existing urban infrastructure, have open floor plates flexible to new uses, and provide cost-effective solutions to building ground-up. Additionally, retail spaces often provide inspiration from the retail industry, prompting healthcare providers to add such consumer-oriented amenities as concierge service, plusher waiting rooms, regional artwork, and branded signage to establish a welcoming environment," she wrote.

HealthEast Care System in St. Paul, Minn., offers a couple recent examples, the blog said. The Grand Avenue Clinic within a former storefront blends into the historic neighborhood by projecting a spa-like image with warm materials, rich wood tones, and varied ambient lighting. Across town at the Midway Clinic in a former big-box bookstore, efficient space planning within the two-story building directs patients between check-in on the ground level, destination exam rooms and consultation offices, and back to check-out.

Read the blog.