Hoag Hospital plans to roll out one of the region’s largest and most ambitious preventive health and wellness centers early next year at a new location in Foothill Ranch.
The nearly 40,000-square-foot Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch facility will include everything from a tech-infused exercise studio with digital monitoring, healthy food and beverage options, brand-name retail partners, consumer-centric events, personalized healthcare coordinators and community education areas, in addition to more traditional healthcare needs such as an urgent care center.
The spot is intended to become the go-to wellness hub for one of Orange County’s fastest-growing residential communities.
A bevy of tech-focused apps and monitoring systems will roll out at the facility, which will be used as a testing ground for new healthcare concepts that could be expanded to Hoag’s vast health network in the county, which includes a pair of hospitals and the Hoag Orthopedic Institute, as well as 14 urgent care centers and nine health centers, officials said.
“We’re thinking differently” with the new center, Robert Braithwaite, president and chief executive of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, told the Business Journal last week.
This time, “we’re thinking more about wellness.” The center will address patient care related to sleep, stress, movement, nutrition and relationships, among other issues, said Braithwaite, who runs Hoag’s entire area network.
Visitors are just as likely to see a doctor observing, participating in or even teaching a yoga class or cooking seminar at the facility, as they are to see them in a traditional office, under the vision for the project.
“It’s not a doctor’s office. It’s a community asset,” said Braithwaite.
The hub will offer shakes, drinks and juices all aimed at wellness, as well as products for sale from local and national brands.
The location will open in late January at the Foothill Ranch Towne Center; construction of the single-story center is now underway.
Booming Area
A healthcare center is much needed for the immediate area, which is seeing a rising population due to nearby developments like Baker Ranch, Ironridge and the Great Park Neighborhoods, Hoag officials said.
Only 10 or so dedicated doctors based in the area serve the immediate region’s 100,000-person population, noted Marcy Brown, senior vice president of Hoag Hospital Irvine and Ambulatory Services.
About 15 physicians, including six OB-GYNs will be employed at Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch, which is expected to get 100 or so patient visits per day.
The area’s younger demographics make the new center a good place to try out new concepts, according to Brown, who stressed that new location is designed to make Hoag “a health and wellness partner of the community,” and not just a place to visit when sick.
The new concepts include a big focus on new technologies; its Headspace program will incorporate upward of 40 Hoag-approved wellness apps that its physicians can use in conjunction with patients. The apps will range from monitoring information from sleep to the heart and the nutrition each person needs.
Hoag Foothill Ranch will be the first health center in the western U.S. to offer Biocircuit Studio, an integrated workout regimen planned by a patient’s physician. Biocircuit also records all of the patient activity and transmits it to their medical record so that their acting physician can review progress.
Hoag officials note that all the services being offered at Foothill Ranch are available to the general public, and that hours will be extended both in the mornings and evenings beyond what’s done at other Hoag facilities, but emphasize that Biocircuit is not a gym—there’s a Planet Fitness in the same shopping center.
Instead, it is prescription exercise—supervised workouts for at-risk patients with reduced blood volume issues, valve replacements, or other heart or health conditions that would make a conventional gym feel intimidating.
By removing the “intimidation factor,” Hoag hopes to personalize the wellness experience and keep patients healthy, Braithwaite said.
Local Ties
Hoag is partnering with some local brands and major names to increase foot traffic and familiarity, and to bring its vision to fruition: Patch Coffee, Lululemon, OC Soccer Club, and Costa Mesa’s L.A. Chargers are just a few of the names already involved.
Patch will have a location in the facility, and athletic clothing firm Lululemon is expected to be one of several lifestyle companies with retail nooks throughout the site.
The soccer and football team’s involvement will bring in sports medicine practitioners and trainers to the facility, and put pro athletes in contact with the community.
Concierge Services
Hoag officials say they are “reimagining the health care experience” by offering an array of personalized health experiences. Customer service is being emphasized, especially in relation to getting patients in front of doctors faster and with little delay.
“Respect my time,” is increasingly a key customer request when it comes to healthcare service, Braithwaite said.
The model Hoag is attempting to utilize runs in a similar vein, but on a larger scale, as Newport-based Concierge Key Health, which offers no-wait access to acclaimed physicians.
Other new Hoag facilities will count some similarities to the Foothill Ranch locations, in terms of customer-driven services.
A new urgent care facility at Irvine’s Orchard Hills shopping center, which is opening this week, features a no-wait waiting room—its entrance features a check-in room.
“Room first—questions later” is the model the facility follows, according to Braithwaite.
