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Why shopping centres want healthcare operators
Diagnostics on the run
You can see diagnostic medical centres more and more often in foreign shopping centres these days. The USA was probably the pioneer to set the trend. Today about 12 000 out of 116 000 shopping centres are hosting healthcare operators, according to CoStar Group. Retail clinics have become widely popular in shopping centres, pharmacies and street food stores. Statista Research Department revealed that from 2012 to 2018 their number in the USA nearly doubled and reached 2800. These clinics most often help with one rather narrow problem or run diagnostics of one or two diseases, so they are small spaces for centres, which have a very specific focus. It is impossible to receive a full package of healthcare services there, while they do have some advantages, such as convenient locations and working hours, as well as cheaper prices, using nurses and residents to work there.
A popular special purpose health centre in a shopping centre is a dental room. They can be found, for example, in Queens Center or Atlantic Terminal Malls in New York. Besides, urgent care clinics are in high demand too, and they are happy to rent spaces in shopping centers. According to Consumer Reports, there over 8 000 such centres in the USA.
Likewise, this format is unwinding in Europe as diagnostics and treatment of some conditions within the compulsory medical insurance may require a long waiting. This is where small private health centers help out. One example is being London Shopping centre with Optical Express and DS Dental Studio providing services by an eye care practitioner and a dentist accordingly. Healthcare segment is widely presented in Asian shopping centres, where aesthetic medicine services, such as teeth whitening, minimally invasive aesthetic procedures are in demand.