The 6 Pillars of a Sustainable Hospital Maintenance Plan

American hospitals spend approximately $60 billion annually on facility maintenance, covering a variety of expenses such as labor, equipment maintenance, energy, material, and overhead expenses. While cutting hospital maintenance budgets might seem like a quick fix for reducing costs, it often leads to even greater problems, such as equipment failures and disruptions to patient care. Instead, hospitals must recognize the critical importance of maintenance strategies that balance cost control with operational efficiency, and which can be carried out sustainably.

What is Sustainable Hospital Maintenance?

Hospital maintenance is one of the most critical responsibilities hospital administrators must manage. While it is critical for patient care and safety, maintenance tasks can sometimes disrupt healthcare workflows. A sustainable hospital maintenance approach balances these challenges, ensuring the hospital operates both safely and smoothly.

What makes this approach truly sustainable are its defining features: comprehensive coverage of all areas, equipment, and maintenance tasks within the hospital setting; well-structured scheduling; and carefully planned budgeting — all working together to keep the hospital running efficiently and uninterruptedly around the clock, 24/7/365.

A sustainable hospital maintenance plan achieves three objectives: 

1. Providing a Safe Environment for Patients: Properly maintained facilities and equipment create a safe environment, reducing risks and prioritizing patient well-being.
2. Meeting Regulatory Compliance: Hospitals must consistently adhere to strict health, safety, and operational standards. A sustainable maintenance plan ensures these requirements are met.
3. Ensuring Smooth Hospital Operations: Well-coordinated maintenance prevents maintenance-related disruptions that could impact patient care.

> Interesting to learn: The American Hospital Association reports that hospitals are expected to comply with 629 regulatory requirements across nine domains.

The 6 Pillars of a Sustainable Hospital Maintenance Plan

A sustainable hospital maintenance plan relies on a foundation of well-defined principles. These six pillars provide a structured framework to ensure hospitals operate efficiently, safely, and in alignment with long-term goals.

1. Prioritization

Maintenance teams work with limited resources, making it essential to allocate time, budget, and staff where they are most needed. This hierarchy of priorities might vary depending on your specific healthcare facility type, but it should be guided by factors such as traffic patterns in common areas, potential impact on operations, and regulatory compliance requirements. For example, common areas or critical equipment may take precedence over less-trafficked spaces. Based on these priorities, facility managers can develop targeted maintenance schedules that minimize disruption (for instance, scheduling work during night shifts or weekends) while ensuring all essential areas receive appropriate attention. By aligning resource allocation with these priorities, hospitals can maintain operational efficiency and uphold the sustainability of their maintenance plans.

2. Proactive Hospital Preventative Maintenance

Hospital preventative maintenance reflects a transition from a reactive to a proactive approach to maintenance, reducing the likelihood of disrupting events such as supply shortages and equipment failures. By leveraging predictive maintenance techniques, hospitals can monitor equipment conditions in real-time and address potential issues before they become critical. For example, tools like vibration analysis can identify early signs of wear and tear, enabling maintenance teams to respond promptly. Although this hands-on approach may seem demanding, it offers numerous benefits, including preventing unexpected breakdowns, extending the lifespan of critical assets, improving safety and reliability, and providing a cost-effective solution for long-term operations.

3. Master Cleaning Schedules

As previously mentioned, a key feature of a sustainable hospital maintenance plan is its well-scheduled and comprehensive nature, and this is where master cleaning schedules come in. These schedules outline all maintenance and cleaning tasks across the healthcare facility, organized and timed according to the prioritization established earlier. Essentially, they provide a formal, organized framework that systematizes and standardizes cleaning operations, serving as the backbone of the facility’s hygiene and maintenance efforts.

4. Implementing a CMMS

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) adds another layer of organization and reliability to the hospital maintenance plan. This software solution centralizes and streamlines maintenance data and processes, enabling hospitals to plan, monitor, report, and optimize maintenance tasks. A CMMS controls functions such as digitized inventory management, asset tracking, and maintenance scheduling, helping to prevent logistical issues like stockouts, excessive storage, or delayed maintenance tasks. This results in more efficient maintenance operations and resource utilization, ultimately supporting a more sustainable approach to hospital maintenance.

5. Energy Efficiency

Energy-efficient systems and equipment play a crucial role in sustainable hospital maintenance. Not only do they help reduce a hospital’s carbon footprint, but they also contribute to significant cost savings. For example, upgrading to energy-efficient lighting, HVAC systems, or medical equipment can reduce energy consumption by up to 25%. These savings can be redirected to other critical maintenance needs, creating a win-win situation for both financial and environmental goals.

> Explore 5 Green Practices for Sustainable Facility Maintenance.

6. Vendor Consolidation

The strategic consolidation of vendors into a one-stop solution for maintenance and janitorial services represents a significant optimization of hospital operations. This approach streamlines processes, enhances operational efficiency, reduces administrative overhead, and often leads to improved service quality through better coordination and accountability. By maintaining relationships with fewer, more comprehensive service providers, hospitals can achieve both cost savings and higher standards of maintenance quality.

Consider Professional Hospital Maintenance Services for Long-Term Success

Although the six pillars of a sustainable hospital maintenance plan may appear straightforward, hospitals often struggle to dedicate the necessary time to manage them effectively, leading to inefficient maintenance operations and wasted resources. Therefore, many hospitals choose to outsource hospital maintenance services to specialized providers who possess the necessary expertise, systems, and resources. By delegating these critical responsibilities to a dedicated partner, hospitals ensure maintenance tasks are handled efficiently and sustainably, allowing them to focus on delivering quality patient care.

At US&S, we specialize in providing comprehensive facility services tailored to the unique needs of healthcare environments. If you’re seeking expert O&M services or janitorial services, our team is ready to support you. Contact us today to explore how US&S can be your trusted partner in maintaining a seamless and efficient healthcare facility.