A Case Study of Safe and Cost-Effective Hospital HVAC Strategies

Abstract

The pressures of healthcare facilities to keep patients safe while also maintaining financial viability have been felt in recent years amongst industry leaders. The impacts COVID has had on patient safety and planning has in any way fast-tracked patient safety progress, but certainly at a financial cost. As hospital leaders and facility leaders attempt to grapple with these realities, a facility's operating strategy that addresses both safety and cost should be employed. The below study aims to solve two issues facing hospital facility leadership in regards to the facilities’ HVAC system. The first issue is how to decrease energy consumption and operating expenses in light of industry pressures to improve the financial outlook and secondly, how to increase patient safety as a direct result of COVID-19 realities. Increasing safety and ultimately flexibility can many times increase costs, so utilizing the most appropriate and tested techniques that follow patient safety protocols will be necessary. The importance of this study cannot be understated. As with any healthcare system, improving patient outcomes are at the heart of the industry and especially in light of our recent pandemic. The fundamental question as to how facilities can keep patients safer while simultaneously reducing energy consumption is a tough question to answer, but manageable due to both recent industry experience and up-to-date research on the topic. The methodology will be to conduct a straightforward cost benefit analysis that takes into account both patient safety and energy consumption. The first step will be to gather baseline data for Lutheran Hospital’s HVAC system to gauge current system performance vs. benchmarked performance. Next, the data will inform us as to what strategies to implement to both curb costs and increase patient safety. The third step will be to implement those strategies where possible and measure their benefits. Lastly, a conclusion will be made as to what long-term solutions will be most useful to both this hospital and the other hospitals within Lutheran Health Network.