One-Stop Spot for Health-Care Needs

Officials Say 'Medical Malls' Could Make Services More Accessible, Convenient

Prince George's County is considering a novel way to deal with limited access to health care: converting empty stores in old shopping centers, even entire malls, into medical facilities.

A feasibility study being reviewed by county officials recommends creating "medical malls" in four underutilized shopping centers in neglected communities.

Under the plan, the county would partner with private retail owners to renovate or build spaces where customers could, for example, buy a pair of shoes in one end of the mall and get a mammogram or a physical in another. The partnership would be paid for with public and private dollars.

"This is thinking outside the box," County Council member Tony Knotts (D-Temple Hills) said.

The report, presented to the council last month, focuses on four malls that were once among the largest and most popular in the county: the demolished Landover Mall, Iverson Mall in Temple Hills, Forestville Plaza and Landover Crossing.

The shopping centers were selected because of their size, vacancy rate and unstable tenant base.

With access to health care scarce and the doors shuttered at numerous stores in many of the county's aging shopping centers inside or near the Beltway, some county officials say the plan could serve two purposes: generate jobs and tax dollars for the county and offer medical services closer to patients who need them.

Donald Hunter, author of the feasibility study and president of the Annapolis-based consulting firm Hunter Interests, said Prince George's would be one of the first jurisdictions in the Washington region with a medical mall.

Hunter Interests, which was commissioned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to do the report, noted that hospitals introduced the "medical mall" concept about 20 years ago to bring health care closer to residential neighborhoods. Groups of doctors followed, opening clusters of medical services in abandoned retail spaces.

Still, there are only about 50 medical malls nationwide, Hunter said.

"A lot of people don't know about medical malls and how well they have done," he said. "Shopping centers are owned by retail folks. They don't know about medical services, and when they are looking to fill vacancies, they think retail. They have to cross the line."

The idea of a medical mall is not new to Prince George's.

Four years ago, Knotts met with representatives from the Lerner Corp., the owners of Landover Mall, about relocating Prince George's Hospital Center to the defunct shopping site just off Route 202 and the Beltway.

Joel Rozner, an attorney for Lerner, said that the company was interested in the idea but that nothing came of the initial meeting. Rozner said that he has not seen the feasibility study and that plans for the site do not include doctors' offices, specialty clinics or a wellness center.

"The Lerners are willing to consider anything that will add to the development of that site," he said.

Iverson Mall officials also expressed interest in the study's recommendations.

"It's a win-win," said Gerry Barnett, the mall's asset manager. "We would have space leased, and the community would have an additional service."

The report found that clustering of medical services would be ideal, especially in underserved parts of Prince George's inside the Beltway. The county has 520 doctors' offices, 273 dental offices with 13 outpatient centers and five free-standing ambulatory and surgical centers.

"The combining of health services in a mall begins to make even more sense when one analyzes the travel requirements to access existing services," the report says.

Under the plan for Iverson Mall, patients could go to the shopping center for diagnostic testing, such as X-rays and CT scans. They could also pick up prescriptions at a pharmacy and get their teeth cleaned at a dental office. Hunter suggests nearly $5 million in renovations at the mall.

The report suggests including a medical mall at the proposed Landover Town Center, which would be at the old Landover Mall site and house a rehabilitation clinic, a health food store, a senior day-care center and other medical-related businesses. The services would create more than 1,200 jobs, resulting in almost $40 million in salaries. Hunter recommends a private investment of $48 million and a public investment of $15 million for the facility.

The county, which is financially strapped, is committed to spending $24 million over the next two years on the hospital system and has agreed in principle to spend $75 million more over five years, beginning in fiscal 2011.

"The county wants to get out of the health-care business, but they are in it," Hunter said. "Creating a medical mall would help them generate tax dollars and offer their constituents a service that they don't have."