In today’s world, finding ways to make healthcare more sustainable isn’t just about being eco-friendly; it’s also a smart move for keeping costs in check and setting your organization up for long-term success. During the 2024 Medical Real Estate Conference session, “Operating Expenses: How Owners and Systems are Controlling Costs,” panelist Ashley Lynn, Vice President - Asset Management, Healthpeak, discussed the key ways that physician occupants and property owners can control expenses and strengthen communication practices. In addition, Ashley shares the ways that Healthpeak is leveraging AI to expand (or complement) its energy efficiency management strategies. Jordan Ivans, Sustainability Specialist - Healthpeak, speaks more about these strategies and his insights for championing sustainability initiatives in your healthcare facility.
Tip #1: Routinely Review Operations
Jordan: When it comes to staying on top of building operations, understanding your building is the number one priority. An idea may not fit neatly at every facility, so it’s essential to recognize competing priorities and the unique attributes of your properties. Routine reviews of your operations are a common sense way to save money and drive the greatest value, including evaluating the timing of your lights or the operating schedule of your HVAC system.
Ashley: Nobody likes the surprise of an expense, so a creative approach to achieving cost savings through sustainability can go a long way. At Healthpeak, we utilize energy management systems, which analyze building data and recommend predictive maintenance. For example, our systems include a dashboard that displays irregularities in equipment runtimes to ensure everything is running as designed. It uses your property’s utility trends to create a baseline and can even validate energy savings where applicable.
Jordan: These systems can also catch energy waste before it grows into an unplanned utility bill increase. It can identify opportunities for improvement, too, such as notifying us when equipment starts to become outdated so we can upgrade to a new system faster. This is where it’s key to limit deferring maintenance as much as possible because before long, you’ll be paying more than the cost to repair.
Tip #2: Seek Sustainability Champions
Jordan: It’s essential to focus on positive outcomes, regardless of their scale. We continue to see companies doubling down on their sustainability goals from prior decades and pursuing energy efficiency in forms that exceed financial thresholds. The importance of this work is underscored further by recent economic terms, including volatile energy markets and rising inflation.
Companies must find sustainability champions on their team who are committed to exploring newer, modern ways to positively impact sustainability and energy efficiency. The demand for a dedicated working role or working group in assessing these opportunities and receiving feedback from a broad and diverse set of stakeholders is essential to implementing comprehensive improvement ideas. When internal resources or expertise may be lacking, partnering with a consulting group can also help validate and verify these ideas.
Tip #3: Prioritize Communication
Ashley: As an asset manager, the essential ingredient is collaboration. During the Operating Expenses session at the Medical Real Estate Conference, it was nice to get everyone’s perspective and see how everyone aligned on the common goal of prioritizing communication between property managers and tenants.
Jordan: Building relationships is vital. At the end of the day, collaboration at all levels of building operations will make the most significant difference. No sustainability or energy efficiency project strategy will succeed without buy-in from all stakeholders. From project execution to end-of-life, organizations must plan for the entire cycle of implementation and operation to realize the positive outcomes envisioned as a team.
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