By Dan Hounsell, Senior Editor

Facility condition assessments are essential tools for healthcare facilities managers looking for a clearer picture of the state of buildings they oversee and, more importantly, the task that lies ahead in ensuring the buildings’ safety, reliability and performance.

The benefits of a facility condition assessment do not need to end there. Handled properly, the assessments also can give managers the tools they need to transform facilities from cost centers into revenue centers for their organizations, says Andy Woommavovah, system director of facility management, construction, energy and infrastructure with Trinity Health in Livonia, Michigan. He spoke at the recent Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference in Anaheim.

Woommavovah says healthcare facilities managers generally are at a disadvantage when vying for funding within their organizations because facilities often are cost centers. 

"We don't generate revenue, so it’s hard for us to compete," he says.

Facility condition assessments enable managers to turn around this situation by providing data they need to help top executives in the organization address revenue, compliance, performance, energy efficiency, sustainability and compliance goals.

Getting started

One early step in the process of developing an effective facility condition assessment is consulting ASTM E2018-24 Standard Guide for Property Condition Assessments. The standard provides a framework for conducting an assessment by identifying material physical deficiencies. It outlines walk-through surveys managers can use to identify physical deficiencies, and it recommends various building systems and building components that should be prioritized for maintenance and repair. 

Woommavovah says managers structuring walk-through surveys and assessments need to include all systems and components, even out-of-sight components such as roofs and elevators.

"Make sure that when you do this work, you're being all-inclusive," he says.

Data gathered from facility condition assessments can only benefit managers and their organizations if it is in an accessible location and format. That format often is a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), and it enables managers to produce reports with insights that put the condition of facilities in terms that an organization’s top executives can understand.

CMMS gather data from the critical elements of organizations’ maintenance and operations activities, including: standardized preventive maintenance; asset inventory management; vendor management; and work order management, including deferred maintenance trends and historical costs.

“Data from CMMS helps establish the fixed cost of maintaining the facility,” Woommavovah says.

Related: Facility Condition Assessments Help Make Cases for Upgrades

Data from all those components enables managers to analyze and benchmark facility condition and performance and, in turn, produce financial and performance analytics that top executives are seeking. These analytics include: a facility condition index (FCI) score that enables stakeholders to benchmark the relative condition of facilities; condition, including immediate, short-, medium and long-term needs; replacement costs; compliance; and return on investment.

?To provide perspective on their facilities’ condition and performance, Woommavovah says managers also can consult “Benchmarking 2.0: Health Care Facility Management Report” from the American Hospital Association, which presents the results of a self-report survey of 262 hospitals and other healthcare facilities on their facility operations. Managers can pair survey results with their own data to demonstrate opportunities that exist for their facilities to contribute to the organization’s performance and mission.

The report includes facility description information, as well as data on utilities, maintenance and risk management. Woommavovah says managers who can emphasize the bottom-line impact of facility compliance are likely to find greater success with top executives.

“Connecting money to compliance is something that cannot be argued with," he says.

Influencing stakeholders

The ultimate goal of managers implementing facility condition assessments should be to use the results to help top executives understand opportunities facilities present for the organization’s bottom line. What issues are important to executives? They want to obtain the best value for purchases and investments, Woommavovah says. They also want to optimize compliance, cut costs, identify the risks of reaction vs inaction, and understand best practices related to patient care and revenue.

With key facilities insights in hand, managers can tailor their requests and recommendations in ways that dovetail with executives’ bottom-line perspective and begin transforming facilities from a cost center to a profit center. They can use the data to:

• identify energy demand flow and opportunities to reduce energy via a building management system
• perform peak shaving feasibility studies
• optimize utility rates by analyzing building energy performance. 

In short, facility condition assessments can give managers tailored information to help executives identify and understand the gaps between how facilities are performing and how they can improve — namely, where they are costing the organization — as well as the cost of inaction vs. action and the steps needed to turn them into revenue centers.

“The risk of inaction is the new ROI,” Woommavovah says, adding that the goal of the entire process is to “turn one of these folks into your advocate for facilities."

Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.