Facilities Management

Facilities management is the practice and art of coordinating the people and work processes of an organization with the physical facilities. This coordination may be as simple as providing core support services to the organization (housekeeping, building maintenance, security services) or as complex as incorporating the provision of physical facilities into the overall strategic planning process. Involvement in the strategic planning process elevates facilities management from a basic administrative function to a core business process in many organizations. Successful facilities management allows organizations to adapt the physical working environment to the needs of the workforce and remain flexible in dynamic, changing work environments. In the case of health care facilities management, regulation dictates strict adherence to treatment protocols that require very specific facility designs and an elevated level of routine maintenance. In a complex health care facility, the role of facilities management can affect the outcome of patient treatment and in many cases be the difference between life and death. A broad spectrum of services falls within the realm of facilities management and may include such diverse functions as facility planning and forecasting; the management of space, security, and life safety operations; general administrative services; and involvement in the strategic planning process.

At the heart of every successful facilities management operation is the facility manager. This person orchestrates the multitude of facility management functions that are conducted simultaneously in any dynamic organizational environment. The facility manager wears many hats and is responsible for not only people but also the systems and equipment the organization needs to create products and provide services. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has identified a number of major functional areas for which facility managers are responsible, including basic and routine maintenance, the acquisition of real estate, financial planning for facility operations, the coordination of new construction, integration of telecommunications and security services, and long-range planning. The sophistication of facilities management in complex health care environments requires managers who are more than operations and maintenance foremen. The facilities management function requires the ability to integrate state-of-the-art management processes with traditional maintenance operations. Health care facilities management has the potential to determine the success of most health care organizations.

The rise in complexity of the facilities management function has fostered a trend referred to as outsourcing. This approach entails hiring someone who is not directly employed by the organization (usually under contract) to perform certain aspects of the facilities management function. Outsourcing may be as broad as contracting with an organization to manage the entire spectrum of the facilities management function or may be as narrow as hiring someone to take care of the grounds. The benefit of outsourcing is the flexibility it provides to organizations and facility managers, who are trying to provide services in the most cost-effective manner possible. In health care facilities, outsourcing is used for such functions as housekeeping and security services. Even with the advent of outsourcing, facilities management remains one of the most complex and challenging functions within any contemporary health care organization.