The core objective of healthcare is to heal patients, yet many organizations feel they can’t afford to make their buildings a true partner in care. They know infrastructure is aging—but operating costs are up, staff is in short supply, and regulatory and stakeholder demands are growing. With competing financial priorities, it’s tempting to ignore that encroaching wave of deferred maintenance.

Fortunately, there are affordable steps you can take now to fight the wave and improve patient outcomes, attract and retain staff, and meet regulatory requirements. It’s possible to do so without upfront spending, using innovative financing options such as infrastructure as a service (see sidebar). And every action you take to make a building healthier ripples out to improve your bottom line.

Good indoor air quality (IAQ) is the natural priority of any healthcare facility. You want patients to heal. You want to keep visitors safe. And you want to help the people who work in the facility feel protected and engaged. Improving IAQ helps reduce the spread of infection, reducing spend on infection control. It’s also proven to enhance staff well-being and productivity. Options to consider:

• Embrace technology. Easy-to-use digital tools help overcome staff discomfort with technology. Look for digital sensors and dashboards that empower your facilities team to balance IAQ with energy spend, optimizing costs and speeding payback on your investment.
• Better manage critical environments. Along with monitoring IAQ, automate temperature, pressure and humidity (TPH) reporting. Critical Environment Advisor from Johnson Controls helps improve accuracy, ensure compliance and avoid costly downtime, with the potential for higher reimbursements through improved Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores.

Health Facilities Management magazine’s annual healthcare construction survey found in 2023 that 51% of respondents had recently upgraded or were currently upgrading their building automation system (BAS). Whether you’re replacing decades-old pneumatic controls or implementing the latest BAS software release, you can reduce utility costs and also better align equipment use with building use. Today’s intuitive BAS technology helps even inexperienced operators speed troubleshooting and address issues before they affect occupants and operations.

Upgrades to HVAC equipment and components have equally far-reaching impact. Air quality and comfort improve. Energy efficiency goes up and emissions go down. System reliability increases, enabling facilities teams to do more with less.

Here the link between cause and effect is clear. A more energy-efficient facility reduces emissions, helping you progress toward organizational goals. And sustainability measures save money in other ways. For example, updating HVAC, lighting and plumbing systems can help avoid unexpected equipment failures and expensive emergency repairs. Adding rooftop solar panels may create the opportunity to sell energy back to the grid. You may even reduce the cost of capital, as lenders look for “green” commitment.