Healthcare REIT Laws – What You Need to Know

By: Amanda Bhikhari

There has been much talk about the future of health care real estate investment trusts (REIT) and the evolution of the real estate market, as well as the way patient care is being provided in today’s world. With greater demand for outpatient and ambulatory surgical centers, the healthcare REIT market is forecasted to be a bullish market. Additional reasons for positive forecasts include an aging population with greater demand, a track record of high performance, and cost of equity capital. Investing in income-generating real estate can be a great way to increase net worth. For many, investing in real estate, particularly commercial real estate, seems to be out of reach financially. However, with the right partnerships and guidance, it is possible. REITs (pronounced “reets”) allow mall investors today to pool their resources with other small investors in order to invest in large-scale commercial real estate as a group.

So, what exactly is a REIT?

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Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Primer for Doctors

ASCby: Jeff Cohen

The development of ambulatory surgery centers is still going strong.  Physicians who want to form or invest in them should be wary, though.

Physicians, squeezed by shrinking reimbursement and rising costs, sometimes see ASCs as a sure thing, financially speaking.  They aren’t.  Developing and operating them is something of an art; and care must be taken in getting into the ASC business.  Developing and operating a successful ASC depends on key factors, like ensuring:

  • The future owners are busy surgeons who will bring cases to the ASC;
  • The surgeons perform services which are well compensated; and
  • Profit distributions will be enough to stimulate interest in the center (especially an issue when a physician owned ASC sells too much to a venture or hospital partner).

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