Budget and Evaluate Costs vs. Benefits for Hospital Facilities Directors

Most hospital facilities are frequently faced with the challenge of how to get the most out of their existing resources and how to do more with less.

With that in mind, how do facilities directors think about budgeting? And what goes into balancing the costs versus the benefits?

After all, your team may have ten items on its wishlist. But with a limited budget, you may be asked to prioritize four of these items.

Facilities Budget is Different from the Security Budget

At a high level, facilities directors think about budgeting for both OpEx (operational expenses) and CapEx (capital expenditures).

Common OpEx for hospital facilities may include budgeting for calibrating test equipment or a radio maintenance agreement. These areas typically involve a fixed monthly expense and are planned based on having some idea of usage needs and trends.

Common CapEx for hospital facilities may include buying new X-ray machines or putting a new roof on a building.

Many common healthcare facilities’ needs could have both an OpEx and CapEx component as is common when budgeting for voice communications.

As hospital facilities directors work on their budget, with an eye towards modernizing the toolkit to create safe and secure hospital environments, while improving physical security, think about how your team may use:

• Analytics
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Incident management
• Mass notifications

Evaluating the Costs of a New Initiative vs. its Benefits

For example, a dispatch center requiring eight hours per day of weekday coverage needs five staff members. That same dispatch center may be staffed at six staff members on weekends based on the assumption that weekends are busier. But are weekends actually busier at your hospital?

To know, rather than guess, the right kind of technology investments allow you to monitor your team’s utilization rates. This way, you can become more agile scheduling for days, timeslots, and shifts. Then, you’ll be able to approach your counterparts in finance and HR with data-driven arguments for additional headcount.

The big picture bears in mind that fewer staff members are needed to watch monitors when a hospital invests in technology that supports triggers and analytics. This may not sound like a big deal on the surface. 

However, if your hospital runs eight-hour shifts, three times a day, and you have four to five shifts of people total, better technology could eliminate one position per shift, or five people, which frees up $300,000 to $400,000 a year in savings.

One final note on budgeting:

On the compliance side, when it comes to video, the ONVIF standard now allows IP-based products to work within your surveillance video framework. This interoperability protects your existing investment and seamlessly interfaces with other key technology platforms that improve the safety and security of your hospital facilities.

What is your hospital doing to modernize its safety and security toolkit?

Some general strategies and technologies that hospital facilities often consider to modernize their safety and security toolkit are:

1. Advanced Access Control Systems: Implementing modern access control systems, including key card or biometric access, ensures that only authorized personnel have access to certain areas of the hospital.
2. Surveillance and CCTV: Upgrading or expanding the hospital’s surveillance system with high-definition cameras, facial recognition technology, and analytics for suspicious activity detection can enhance security measures.
3. Integration of Communication Systems: Implementing unified communication platforms, including radio systems and mobile applications like Motorola radios, can ensure that staff can easily and quickly communicate during emergencies or security incidents.
4. Visitor Management Systems: Utilizing electronic visitor management systems with check-in procedures and badges can help track and monitor who enters and exits the hospital premises.
5. Duress Alarms and Panic Buttons: Providing staff with wearable or fixed-location duress alarms or panic buttons allows for immediate alerts in emergency situations.
6. Biometric Identification and Verification: Utilizing biometric technologies like fingerprint or facial recognition can enhance identity verification for sensitive areas or controlled substances.
7. Behavioral Health Monitoring: Implementing technology to monitor and identify potentially aggressive or harmful behavior can help prevent security incidents in behavioral health units.
8. Incident Reporting and Management Systems: Utilizing digital platforms for reporting and managing incidents helps ensure a standardized and effective response to security concerns.
9. Training and Drills: Investing in regular training and drills for staff on security procedures and protocols is essential for a well-prepared response to emergencies.
10. Cybersecurity Measures: Ensuring robust cybersecurity measures are in place to protect sensitive patient data and critical hospital systems from cyber threats.
11. Emergency Notification Systems: Implementing mass notification systems that can quickly disseminate information to all staff, patients, and visitors in the event of an emergency.
12. Smart Access Control and IoT Integration: Utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) technology to integrate various security systems, such as environmental sensors or smart locks, can enhance overall safety measures.

Remember, any modernization efforts should be tailored to the specific needs and risks of the hospital facilities. Regular evaluation and updates to security protocols are crucial in maintaining a safe and secure environment for patients, staff, and visitors.

Share your thoughts in the section for comments below.

And if you’d like to learn how wireless communication improves physical security for hospitals, download our eBook, “Creating Safe and Secure Hospital Environments: How Wireless Communication Improves Physical Security for Hospitals (For Hospital Facilities and Security Professionals).”