E89 – It’s NOT an MOB: Designing the Hospital Without Beds

As hospital systems consolidate, close legacy facilities, and reduce inpatient bed counts, a new care model is taking hold: highly robust ambulatory environments that function as hospitals without beds. Yet many of these facilities are still planned like upgraded medical office buildings, limiting their clinical, operational, and strategic potential.

This session examines the shift from traditional MOBs to next-generation ambulatory care centers capable of supporting complex, end-to-end care trajectories without inpatient admission. Using Penn Medicine’s Montgomeryville Multispecialty Outpatient Care Facility as a case study, presenters will explore how design, planning, and operations can support advanced diagnostics, surgery, oncology, infusion, and rehabilitation while maintaining efficiency, patient experience, and financial viability.

The discussion will address key tensions facing health systems today: balancing access and network capture outside the hospital, right-sizing acuity without recreating inpatient inefficiencies, and managing the emerging gray zone of patients who are too complex for home discharge but do not require full admission. Attendees will gain practical insights into how ambulatory facilities can extend hospital-level care, preserve patient loyalty, and deliver value in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.