By Healthcare Facilities Today

 Every facility manager (FM) needs to be concerned with the cost of business. The goal as FM is to improve the net revenue and cash flow of the organization through numerous strategies, according to a blog on the FacilityCare website.

"In your tool kit should be ways to maximize the total cost of ownership of all the assets you maintain, namely, buildings and equipment," wrote blogger Todd Wilkening, director of facilities at Ridgeview Medical Center in Minnesota.

In the blog, Wilkening lists five of his top 10 budget tips.

1. Find the cash.

Explore the private, local, state and federal programs that can assist you. 

2. Improve performance.

How will supporting your budget actually improve your departmental or organizational performance? Provide this information in a measureable way.

3. Connect with the bottom line.

Enough cannot be said about connecting the needs of the facilities management department to the performance indicators of the business. Demonstrate how you will protect the financial requirements and your organization’s mission.

4. Tell the story of how you are improving the performance of revenue-producing departments.

The FM needs to think about how support of budget needs actually can improve the profitability of revenue-producing departments.

5. Accountability.

Hold your department accountable for the budget, and report in frequently.

Read the rest of Wilkening's budget tips.

Read the blog.