Medical center or shopping mall?

In Southern California, a new trend is emerging: combining doctor's offices with shopping malls. Developers hope that they can make a profit--and give patients a more pleasurable visit--by combining doctor's offices, retail stores and restaurants in a single complex. "...Patients would come for medical appointments and perhaps meet a friend for lunch or browse for skin-care products. To encourage browsing and eating, the doctors' offices will have small waiting rooms and patients will be given pagers that alert them when the doctor is ready to see them," explains the L.A. Times. The complexes are designed to feel more like hotels than medical centers, and doctors leasing space in the centers hope the draw of retail stores will bring in more customers. Some critics, however, doubt the plan will work, noting that patients won't want to shop and relax if they're not feeling well.

For more on the medical center/shopping mall trend:
- check out this L.A. Times piece

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