How to Use Technology to Save Money for Your Healthcare Facility

Technology continues to advance quickly, solving more problems and becoming more readily available to consumers. Take advantage of new innovations by applying them to your own problems. Here are some ways to use technology to save money for your healthcare facility.

Solar Power

The sun outputs an enormous amount of energy every minute of every day. Harnessing just a fraction of this energy would reduce the cost of electric bills. Try installing solar panels on the roof of your hospital. The energy generated from the solar panels can even be stored in a solar panel battery for later use. With the use of the battery, excess energy generated on a particular sunny day can be harnessed and used later instead of wasted. Also, the stored solar energy can be used on a rainy or cloudy day when the sun is not available for producing electricity. The energy storage capacity is especially useful for healthcare facilities in which electricity is required to keep patients alive even during power outages.

Go Paperless

Avoid the material costs of printing by going paperless. Using digital forms instead of physical paper forms can save a significant amount of money. In addition to avoiding the cost of paper, the cost of ink is also avoided. You'll also save quite a bit of space. No paper forms means no filing cabinets required. Try emailing clients instead of sending paper documents to transfer information. The encryption for digital files has advanced to ensure security of even sensitive information. Going digital can save you money, and you'll save a few trees at the same time.

Reduce Water Consumption

Between sinks and toilets, bathrooms use a significant amount of water each day. Make sure that both the sinks and the toilets are making efficient use of water. Toilets have become quite efficient, using significantly less water per flush than older toilets. Updating old toilets throughout your facility will reduce your water bill by a large margin. Any leaky faucets are constantly using water with no benefit. Replacing dripping sinks and faucets can conserve water, allowing you to make better use of the water and save money.

Consider checking the amount of water used to irrigate the landscaping around your facility. By reducing the footprint of your landscaping, you can substantially decrease the amount of water required, in turn cutting back the amount of money spent on your water bill.

Upgrade the Lighting

LED lights have advanced and are becoming cheaper. They are much more energy efficient than older lights that use incandescent light bulbs. They also have a much longer lifespan than incandescent lights. Using glass bulbs, incandescent lights are fragile—unlike LED bulbs—and they also generate large amounts of heat during operation, even posing a fire hazard in some cases. LED lights will save you money in addition to being a safer option.

Installing motion sensor lights can dramatically increase energy efficiency as well. With motion sensors, lights only turn on when needed to provide light to someone entering the hallway. After a set amount of time with no motion detected, the lights turn off automatically. That way, the lights are only being used when needed, avoiding wasteful consumption of electricity for unnecessary lighting.

Replace Windows

Depending on the age of your facility, the windows may be ineffective barriers to the outside temperatures. Especially in the winter, the cold can easily enter into the building through the windows. Similarly, the heat can infiltrate via the windows in the summer. In both cases, the faulty barrier of the old windows undermines the heating and air conditioning, wasting energy and money. By replacing the windows with an energy efficient double-pane design, the air inside the building—whether heated or cooled—stays comfortable despite the temperature outside.

Upgrading to newer technology can dramatically improve the efficiency of your healthcare facility. With newer devices and technology, you can save money and divert resources towards providing exceptional healthcare.