Expert Advice

From Patchwork to Precision: How Integrated Facilities Management Transforms Healthcare Outcomes

11/13/2024

Looking back, healthcare facilities management in the last decade was largely about mitigating the effects of critical issues. An aging pipe infrastructure here, a downed elevator there, power outages, maybe some storm remediation. Historically, facilities management prioritized correcting problems, not preventing them. At the same time, many of the functions touching the built environment — construction, energy management, and compliance, for instance — were disjointed, managed by siloed teams or vendors, without a coordinated strategy for how those pieces fit together. 

Meet the Experts: Compliance Support Team

11/7/2024

Over the past three years, the Medxcel compliance support team has helped client facilities successfully complete 108 accreditation surveys in partnership with Medxcel’s regulatory compliance experts. Between 2022 and 2023, the team also helped facilities reduce ligature findings by 100% and high-risk findings by 84% on accreditation surveys. One Midwest hospital eliminated moderate and high-risk deficiencies entirely (100%) from 2021-2024.

Turning Market Disruption into Opportunities in Healthcare Real Estate

10/2/2024

If you’re a leader in healthcare, you’re likely feeling the landscape shift under your feet. We’re undergoing significant market disruption, which translates into opportunities for growth and for delivering more value to the audiences we serve—if we know how to leverage them. Real estate, in particular, is one of the competencies undergoing a massive transformation in healthcare.

Building for Healing: How Healthcare Preconstruction Planning and Collaboration Drives Success

9/19/2024

As exciting as it is to see walls going up and buildings popping out of the ground, the preconstruction phase is where you can make the kinds of changes that can transform user experiences and avoid wasteful spend in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Beyond Break/Fix: Reducing Costs and Streamlining Operations with Integrated Facilities Management

9/6/2024

Altogether, the measurable impact of a holistic facilities management solution is both significant and sustainable. Hospitals who partner with Medxcel report 10-15% in facilities management savings over the life of the contract. In the past three years, operating expense savings for client facilities exceeded $104 million. 

Exploring Innovation: Lessons Learned from ASHE's Healthcare Innovation Conference

9/6/2024

Critical components of excellence in healthcare facilities management include constant learning, challenging conventional practices, and adapting solutions to match evolving conditions. One way we nurture these practices is by seeking out new perspectives from peers across the industry. 

Climate Change Considerations for Healthcare Emergency Preparedness

8/8/2024

Are climate change considerations part of your emergency preparedness and response plans? They should be. Already, “climate change-related events are straining healthcare workers, disrupting physical infrastructure, and interrupting supply chains, making it more difficult to treat patients and threatening healthcare quality and safety,” say researchers. Here’s why climate change considerations are essential for keeping hospitals operational during disasters.

Funding a First-Class Emergency Management Program

7/15/2024

Between weather disasters, technology failures and man-made crises, hospital leaders often find themselves having to put their emergency response plans to the test. Too often, those responsibilities are assigned as additional duties to staff in other healthcare roles such as the facilities manager, emergency department director, or even administrative personnel. That model is no longer viable.

Three Strategies to Navigate Rural Healthcare Challenges

6/28/2024

Limited funding and resources amplify financial challenges for rural hospitals when compared to facilities located in more urban and suburban areas, forcing them to be more resourceful in terms of compliance. Due to these obstacles, an estimated 30% of rural hospitals in the U.S. are currently at risk of closing and leaving their communities with limited access to life-saving healthcare.

Emergency Preparedness in Healthcare: Planning for Self-Sufficiency

6/17/2024

In recent years the healthcare industry has learned what can happen when crises catch healthcare providers unprepared. Emergency management not only keeps patients, hospital staff and visitors safe at times of heightened risks, but also sustains revenue, enabling hospitals to remain operational during a disaster.

Mastering Communications for Faster Emergency Resolution

6/3/2024

As threats evolve, many healthcare leaders ask us how they can shorten their response time and resolve emergencies faster. It’s a big question with complex answers. In this post, we focus on one foundational element of emergency response: communications.

Limiting Food Waste to Drive Sustainability Within Healthcare Facilities

5/3/2024

Whether it’s due to growing public expectations or the associated incentives available to healthcare systems, our healthcare teams are noticing that implementing environmentally friendly initiatives is a growing priority for leaders within this sector.

Three Key Elements for Proactive Disaster Preparedness

5/3/2024

Hospitals across the U.S. responded to large scale natural disasters in 2023. Handling the unexpected is at the core of healthcare, but proactive preparation leads to a more effective and streamlined response when a disaster impacts operations. No matter the facility or disaster, the three steps are critical when implementing disaster preparedness plans.

Addressing Ligature Risks in the Patient Room and Beyond

4/22/2024

Patient suicide ranks among the top three sentinel events, reports The Joint Commission (TJC), bringing an intense scrutiny to ligature risks within healthcare facilities. TJC studies suggests that suicide prevention efforts in hospital settings should focus primarily on reducing the risks of death by hanging. It stands to reason that if many suicide attempts are impulsive, then reducing environmental risks and opportunities for self-harm is vital for curbing suicides in healthcare settings. 

Shining a Light on Eclipse Risks: Preparing Healthcare Facilities for the Solar Spectacle

4/1/2024

On April 8, skies will darken midday in 15 states in a much-anticipated total solar eclipse, bringing a surge of spectators to locations in the path of totality. Healthcare leaders in areas within the path of totality should plan now to prepare for potential risks that may impact healthcare facilities during the eclipse.

Expanding on Best Practices: A Guide to Healthcare Facility Construction in 2024 and Beyond

2/12/2024

"When a healthcare organization spends time re-evaluating current practices and strengthening strategies, the team can more effectively meet goals and build facilities that are well-equipped to operate efficiently and serve their communities effectively."

How to Establish a Diverse Supplier Sourcing Strategy

1/30/2024

"One misconception about vendor diversity programs is that they only cater to the interests of the vendors. In reality, a diverse supplier base not only offers direct benefits to healthcare organizations including reliability and resiliency along the supply chain but also contributes to the long-term growth of local communities, further supporting the development of MVWBEs and small businesses along the way."

4 Questions to Spark Strategic Healthcare Budget Discussions

7/17/2023

For healthcare leadership teams, the process of developing capital and operational budgets offers an opportunity to execute overarching organizational goals. In order to successfully align budgets with strategic efforts, leaders must begin by outlining long-term objectives to guide decisions.
 

Encouraging Female Leadership in the Healthcare Industry

6/19/2023

Women make up the majority of the healthcare workforce but lack proportional representation in leadership roles. While more women have taken positions of leadership in recent years, there is plenty of room for continued growth.

Rural Disaster Response: Maintaining Safe Operations to Weather the Storm

5/15/2023

When severe weather strikes, patients rely on their hospitals to continue serving the community during and after a disaster. For rural communities, severe weather has the potential to cause major disruption to a healthcare system due to a lack of resources.