How healthcare real estate is quietly redefining the modern workplace

Walk into almost any healthcare campus today and you’ll notice something striking: waiting rooms feel fuller, outpatient centers busier, and back-office wings smaller.

Healthcare is undergoing a fundamental shift, both in how organizations invest in commercial real estate and how their spaces operate. Here’s how healthcare facilities are rethinking their environments to better serve patients and support the teams who care for them.

Outpatient growth: the new front door of healthcare

For decades, the “center” of healthcare was the hospital, but over the past five years, outpatient clinics have become increasingly popular. With aging populations, rising costs, and patients demanding convenience, health systems are moving care out of large campuses and into smaller, distributed sites closer to residential areas. 

The ripple effect this has had on real estate is significant. Medical office buildings accounted for nearly 19 million square feet in 2025, one of the strongest showings in recent years. Behind those numbers are real stories: a pediatric group expanding into suburban communities, and a cancer care center opening a satellite clinic to cut patient travel time in half.

This decentralized approach to care delivery mirrors the broader shift toward distributed work models. Just as healthcare providers are bringing services closer to patients with outpatient facilities, rather than solely operating out of large-scale medical centers, companies across industries are recognizing that work doesn’t have to be confined to a single campus.  

For medical office buildings in particular, this shift enables increased accessibility, dignity, and delivering care where it matters most. And increasingly, the same forces reshaping care delivery are reshaping how healthcare teams work.

A shift to the hybrid “back office” 

While patient-facing spaces are growing, back office footprints are shrinking. Administrative offices have declined by more than a third since 2019. Healthcare leaders are asking: Do we really need everyone in the office every day?

The answer is increasingly no, and the data backs this up. Forbes research shows that 60% of healthcare leaders plan to maintain their current hybrid work levels, while 22% expect to increase them further.  

Remote roles in healthcare grew 135% from 2019 to 2022, demonstrating that flexible work arrangements are not only feasible in healthcare, but are becoming essential for attracting and retaining talent in a competitive labor market.

Hybrid schedules, shared workspaces, and managing it all through a workplace platform are the new norm. But this transformation introduces real leadership challenges:

• Technology adoption: Ensuring staff have the right tools to collaborate effectively across locations 
• Communication: Maintaining clear, consistent messaging when teams are distributed
• Engagement: Keeping remote and hybrid employees connected to the organization’s mission
• Burnout prevention: Supporting staff well-being in an industry already facing workforce strain

To address these challenges, forward-thinking healthcare organizations are implementing key best practices:

• Clear goals and expectations: Defining success by outcomes rather than hours worked
• Trust-based culture: Empowering teams to manage their schedules while maintaining accountability
• Digital fluency: Investing in technology that enables seamless collaboration, not just remote connectivity
• Employee well-being: Prioritizing mental health support and work-life balance as strategic imperatives

Now, IT and facilities teams are left juggling space, schedules, and compliance in an environment that tolerates no downtime. In healthcare, the stakes are higher than in most industries because inefficiency can impact care.

How technology frees up time for medical care

As the healthcare real estate sector becomes more distributed, technology is becoming the bridge between people, place, and purpose. The convergence of shrinking administrative space and growing hybrid work models creates both challenges and opportunities, which is why healthcare organizations need tools that can align physical space with evolving work patterns – all while maintaining the security and compliance standards the healthcare industry demands.

With OfficeSpace, healthcare organizations are:

• Using data insights to rightsize their facilities: Real-time analytics reveal actual usage patterns across clinical and administrative areas, enabling evidence-based decisions about space allocation
• Tracking RTO and occupancy patterns: Understanding when staff need to be on-site versus when they can work remotely ensures facilities are neither overcrowded nor underutilized
• Leveraging wayfinding tools: Multi-building healthcare environments become more accessible and less stressful to navigate
• Coordinating space scheduling in real time: Dynamic scheduling ensures the right resources are in the right place at the right time

With visitor management solutions like Greetly for healthcare, facilities can go a step further by automating visitor management and compliance tasks that previously consumed administrative bandwidth. 

While Greetly is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant with strong security practices, healthcare facilities should note that it is not HIPAA-certified and does not provide Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). However, many healthcare offices successfully use Greetly for non-PHI visitor management, including:

• Secure check-in workflows for vendors, contractors, and general visitors
• Temperature and ID verification for enhanced safety protocols
• Role-specific workflows that route different visitor types appropriately
• Automated registration that reduces front-desk bottlenecks
• Real-time alerts to hosts when visitors arrive
• Audit-ready visitor logs for compliance reporting
• NDA collection and digital document signing

Together, these tools reduce manual coordination, improve transparency, and address a critical reality: every minute healthcare staff spend managing logistics is a minute they’re not spending on patient care. 

By automating space management, scheduling coordination, and visitor workflows, OfficeSpace gives healthcare teams time back to focus more on delivering exceptional patient care.

Why this matters for healthcare facility managers

Here’s the thought that sticks with us: healthcare’s real estate story is really a people story.

Every square foot not used efficiently is a missed opportunity to serve patients better, give caregivers relief, or redirect funds to innovation instead of rent. At a time when margins are razor-thin and burnout is rampant, space must work harder than ever. And with hybrid work now a permanent fixture of healthcare delivery, organizations need strategies and tools that support distributed teams while maintaining operational excellence.

The medical office building may look like another square on a leasing report, but in reality, it’s the frontline of patient experience. The way facilities teams manage these spaces and support the people who work in them will determine how effectively they deliver on that promise.

Optimizing healthcare real estate means aligning people, place, and purpose to drive efficiency, enhance patient experience, and support wellness for on-site teams. 

Learn why the Syneos Health real estate team used OfficeSpace for desk booking, scenarios, and data-driven space management. 

Originally published on dojo.co, this post has been updated following Dojo’s acquisition by OfficeSpace.