ASHE, IFMA Release Health Care Facilities Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks Report

CHICAGO — The American Society for Healthcare engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the International Facility Management Association  announced  the release of “Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks for Health Care Facilities,” the first significant benchmarking report on  health care facility operations.

A cooperative effort between ASHE and IFMA’s Health Care Council, the report provides relevant hospital operations data that health care facility management professionals can use to compare their operations to those of other similar institutions and make the case for capital investment and resource allocation in the boardroom.  

Health care facility management professionals at 150 different health care facilities representing a broad cross-section of the field were surveyed. The Institutions surveyed included acute care hospitals, behavioral care facilities, outpatient health care centers, ambulatory surgery centers, critical access hospitals, medical centers, and rehabilitation centers.

The report takes an in-depth look at health care facility age and location, utility costs and practices, maintenance costs and staffing, environmental services, waste streams, linen services, and operational costs. In addition to the normal facility benchmarks commonly used — such as cost per square foot and cost per worker — the report’s analysis includes metrics hospital leadership will recognize, such as adjusted patient days and adjusted discharges.

“Our goal was to make it far easier for facility professionals to justify the needs of their departments to the C-suite by using the language executives understand,” said Todd Wilkening, director of facilities at Ridgeview Medical Center, Waconia, Minn. who helped develop the survey and report. “Facilities departments don’t simply generate expenses — they also bring tremendous value — and their actions can make a key difference in maximizing an organization’s cash flow.”

Key findings from the report show that for 83 percent of the hospitals represented in the study utility costs increased as compared to the previous year. Many of the hospitals in the study are in growth mode, with increases in utility costs resulting from that expansion. For the majority of respondents, however, the rise in cost was due to higher utility rates, in spite of the fact that many of the hospitals represented had implemented energy management practices.

The report also provides current maintenance staffing ratios for major hospitals, which can help health care facility professionals benchmark against their colleagues in the field and better allocate their resources.

ASHE members are able to download a PDF of “Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks for Health Care Facilities” as a membership benefit from the ASHE website at www.ashe.org.   The report can also be purchased online, (www.ifma.org) with IFMA members getting a 50 percent discount off the nonmember price

About ASHE
ASHE is a personal membership group of the AHA. More than 10,000 members count ASHE as a key source of professional development, advocacy, and representation on key issues that affect their work in the physical health care environment. For more information about ASHE, contact 312-422-3800 or go to www.ashe.org.

About IFMA
IFMA is the world’s largest and most widely recognized international association for professional facility managers, supporting more than 19,000 members in 78 countries. The association’s members, represented in 124 chapters and 16 councils worldwide, manage more than 37 billion square feet of property and annually purchase more than US$100 billion in products and services. Formed in 1980, IFMA certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs, recognizes facility management certificate programs and produces World Workplace, the world’s largest facility management conference and exposition. To join and follow IFMA’s social media outlets online, visit the association’s LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages. For more information, visit the IFMA press room or www.ifma.org.