Medical Office Building: Stand Alone or Medical Complex?

If you are planning to be in a private practice of your own, you need to choose an office space. Medical Office space can be leased or bought. I prefer to lease for first few years until things settle down, cash flow becomes stable, and I find out what kind of office and medical office layout is suitable for my purpose.

The question we are considering is, if a stand alone building is better or not? It sure does look great to be in a stand alone building. It is a complete building of your own, no neighbors and no mess.

But if you are planning to start a new medical practice, it is important not to isolate the medical practice. I have given this a lot of thought before opening my medical practice. And looking back, it surely is good to be in a condominium complex, surrounded by other medical offices. Why?

Because no matter how much marketing your medical practice may do, more than 90% of the patients will choose you because of referrals. This is true for both specialists as well as primary care practice. If you are surrounded by medical offices (as in a medical office condominium complex) they all will be more likely to refer patients to you.

My hunch in the beginning of opening a practice has now proven its ground. The medical complex has a very high traffic of cross referrals. The patients like it because they don’t have to go too far from the place they are familiar with. The Medical Practices thrive in a symbiotic relationship. Everybody wins !