Hospital-based medical office buildings: report of a national study

In recent years, many hospitals have developed campus-based medical office buildings (MOBs) as a means of providing physicians with proximal office space and increasing patient days through a more committed medical staff. A nationwide survey was conducted among 1,252 non-government, not-for-profit hospitals with 200 or more beds to understand both the significant factors associated with their development and their overall characteristics. Among the 686 hospitals which responded to the survey, the significant determinants of MOBs were medical school affiliation, religious affiliation/ownership, and location in the western part of the country. Three hundred eleven hospitals reported that they had (or were currently constructing) MOBs; they were most often owned directly by the hospital, housed 30% of the active medical staff, operated at capacity, and made a small profit for the hospital.