Facility managers in the healthcare sector are tasked with a myriad of constraints—from aging infrastructure to staying compliant amidst constant changes to health and safety regulations to shrinking budgets. Therefore, it is critical to know how every building, physical asset, and system in your care is performing and where there are opportunities for facility optimization.
Why Condition Assessments are Critical for Healthcare Facilities
Healthcare facilities play a crucial role in our communities, providing essential care and support to those in need. Ensuring that these facilities operate at their best is essential.
In this blog, we'll delve into the pivotal role of condition assessments in Healthcare Facilities Management, shedding light on their impact on operational efficiency and, ultimately, the quality of care provided to patients. Join us as we explore the vital importance of keeping these facilities in top condition and the significant benefits that come with it.
Current State of Physical Assets
Facility Condition Assessments give your team a full-spectrum understanding of the current state of your facilities and physical assets. More than simply a hospital or standalone care unit, we know that today's healthcare organizations are made up of hundreds and thousands of individual components that must all be maintained as a well-oiled machine on a daily basis.
Get your guide to implementing a facility optimization strategy.
The Four Critical Questions of Facility Condition Assessment:
- What do we own?
- What condition is it in?
- What are the values and liabilities?
- What is the plan for the future?
Finding the answers to these questions is essential for the success of any healthcare environment. On a basic level, the FCA reviews the material condition of assets, the ease of access outside and inside the facility, the functionality of operating equipment, the performance, and the estimated remaining useful life of assets based on the Building Owners and Managers Association standards, and the estimated costs for repairs versus replacements.
Find out how the FOUNDATION Solution Improves Facility Condition Assessments.
This thorough examination of each building, system and component offers managers and executives a comprehensive view of the current state of existing facilities so that they can begin to prioritize repairs, upgrades and forecast capital investments.
Case Study: How Facility Condition Assessments Save Money, Mitigate Risk, and Improve Efficiency.
Inform Capital Planning Executives
The FCA is a valuable tool for healthcare organizations to forecast budgets and long-term investments. The FOUNDATION Solution streamlines facility condition inspections by providing you with best-in-class workflows and costing libraries that consider industry-wide replacement value benchmarked against deferred maintenance deficiencies.
How Changes in Healthcare Impact Facilities Management.
This data enables executives to have a 360-degree view on the status of existing assets across all facilities. Data collected during an FCA is a valuable tool for long-range planning. It enables executives to make decisions based on comprehensive reports and provides a strategic framework for planning future improvements.
Ensure Compliance
This is one of the most important aspects of a healthcare facility manager's job, and it is one of the most headache inducing and time consuming. Healthcare organizations are under constant pressure from The Joint Commission and other compliance entities to ensure that facilities meet stringent requirements for patient and staff safety. An FCA identifies potential problem areas in relation to critical life safety requirements, including emergency management procedures, sterilization and infection control, and storage of gas and other hazardous materials.
Case Study: How this Healthcare Organization Improved Disease Management and Infection Control.
A facility management platform like FOUNDATION can track all of these compliance elements and recommend solutions. In addition, our platform can leverage the data from your FCA to develop a prioritization strategy. For example, visually, a leaky roof might seem like an urgent priority.
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However, an FCA identifies life safety code violations such as the improper transport and storage of hazardous chemicals, which is a much higher priority in regard to patient and staff safety.
With the help of facility management software, it becomes easier to prioritize and analyze data points from your FCA against health and safety regulations. Therefore, you can ensure the highest quality of compliance for your entire healthcare environment.
Data-Driven Decisions Backed By Real-Time Insight
Facility assessments support everyday decision-making that are backed by real-time information and insights. Facility management platforms, like The FOUNDATION Solution, are designed to process the large amount of data collected during a facility assessment and package it into a digestible, simplified, mobile-friendly report that enables you and your management team to quickly make decisions on the fly.
Case Study: How the New York Housing Authority Improved Facility Condition Assessments.
For example, FOUNDATION, offers you a dynamic condition model of your healthcare organization's entire physical asset portfolio. This enables you to prioritize and categorize assessment data and then integrate it directly into your maintenance and capital project and budgetary planning.
Learn more about the Future of Healthcare at HIMSS.
The FOUNDATION Solution takes this one step further with its mobile component, which allows your team to stay connected inside and outside of the office. Our mobile-enabled platform provides you with project overviews, analyses, building biographies, and deficiency condition reports. Furthermore, you can upload photos directly from the field, add comments, and even view estimated repair costs.
Your Tool for Better Condition Assessments
The Foundation condition assessment system provides a robust and scalable platform that enhances your organization's efficiency, security, and collaboration. Are you ready to take your Healthcare Facility to the next level? Discover how our innovative platform can help you create, manage, and streamline your Facility Condition Assessments. Schedule a demo with us today and see the difference for yourself!
