How LMFM Centralizes Risk Data for 60+ Healthcare Facilities

In 2010, Lower Mainland Facilities Management (LMFM) was formed to provide shared services for four different healthcare authorities and organizations under the Lower Mainland Health Care Facilities (now known as the Fraser Health Authority). Now, all of these facilities have access to consolidated departments, including Facilities Maintenance and Operations (FMO), Real Estate, Facility Planning and Project Delivery, Energy & Environmental Sustainability, and Systems Support. Consolidating services for administrative and operational support can help with resource management so healthcare organizations can focus on delivering better care outcomes for patients. However, finding a way to centralize all risk data and manage risk and compliance efficiently across sites can be a daunting task.

The Challenge: Risk management in a shared services environment

Naturally, when you bring together four large entities, all 60 healthcare facilities are likely to be categorized as “Critical Infrastructure,” making risk prioritization a challenge. With diverse risks to manage in order to operate and maintain service effectively, different attitudes and approaches can complicate things further. There is a real connection between continual operations and risk visibility. For example, ensuring hospital operating rooms stay open is one of the critical mandates of the FMO. “Many of our risks are directly tied to equipment and infrastructure,” says Jay Trethewey, Director of LMFM. “People’s lives depend on these things being reliable.”

The Solution: Enterprise risk management software

In 2012, the group made a decision to have one data depository for managing operational and maintenance risks for 60 facilities across the four healthcare networks. “Spreadsheets got us to a certain point when the focus was a handful of hospitals and assets,” says Wakako Thomson, the Risk Management Program lead. “But when the focus shifted to 60 facilities and 13 critical assets, it was impossible to keep the information consistent and act on a prioritized basis by using spreadsheets.” The team decided to implement Resolver’s Enterprise Risk Management application as their solution.

The Approach: Rapid implementation + training

The overall timeframe for getting Resolver up and running was three months. “We were fortunate in already having a well-developed approach to capturing and evaluating risk information in a complex setting,” states Thomson. “The Resolver team was great at understanding our needs and requests and configured the software to match.” Once the system was up and running, Thomson and her team started visiting sites to facilitate risk management workshops, usually focusing on one critical asset at a time at each site. The discussion and risk information is captured in Resolver and stored in the library. In each subsequent workshop, the discussion starts with the library information to leverage the collective knowledge of all site managers and supervisors. The library feature enables very efficient collaboration across LMFM staff and stakeholders.

How Resolver fits into LMFM’s big picture for facilities risk management

For LMFM, Resolver’s Enterprise Risk Management application is used in risk-based decision-making for both capital renewal and operational risks, with 80% of the data being operational. There are 13 critical asset systems being tracked, including HVAC systems, emergency power generation, electrical distribution, life safety systems, and plumbing, as examples. Even when labeled as operational, the risk information has implications for the overall asset management cycle, such as facility capital planning, technical guidelines for new projects, and project delivery. The 1,000+ specific risks that are managed by LMFM using Resolver are distilled into a handful of high-level risks for the health authorities’ corporate enterprise risk registers.

With an aging infrastructure and many competing priorities for limited capital, Resolver increasingly comes into play in decision support. “Do we need a $50 million renovation or a $5 million refit?” asks Tretheway.

“Resolver helps us make these decisions and create visibility with health authority management as to the risks associated with deferring capital projects.”

According to Jay, this is one area where Resolver has helped greatly. “The knowledge base we’re developing reflects the state of the infrastructure and identifies where the risks are. This helps make business cases for capital projects and ensures budget alignment while providing patients with the best possible environment for care delivery. Increasingly, Resolver is being applied as a strategic lens while developing capital initiatives and managing risks through design development and project delivery phases as well.”

The Results: Achieving risk management excellence with Resolver

The adoption of Resolver’s ERM software by LMFM not only streamlined the process of risk data management but also elevated the level of strategic decision-making across all its healthcare facilities. With a comprehensive risk data repository at its fingertips, LMFM enhanced its capability to swiftly respond to and prioritize risks, ensuring the delivery of safe and efficient healthcare services.

The system’s robust analytics and reporting tools provided Fraser Health Authority’s facilities management teams with the agility to adapt to the dynamic landscape of healthcare risk management, cementing Resolver’s role as a pivotal element in their ongoing pursuit of excellence. Through improved decision-making, transparency, and operational efficiency, LMFM set a new standard for healthcare risk management, demonstrating the transformative power of integrating a sophisticated ERM solution like Resolver. The successful risk management software implementation and outcomes signify a leap forward in healthcare risk management, making LMFM a model of operational excellence and innovation in the healthcare sector.

About Jay Trethewey, AScT:

After nearly 20 years of experience designing mechanical systems for hospitals and higher education facilities, Jay’s focus is primarily on developing a risk and value-based approach to maintenance, operations, and capital renewal.

About Wakako Thomson, MBA, CRM-E:

Wakako Thomson has been involved in developing Risk Management programs with Lower Mainland Facilities Management since 2010. She oversees 100+ risk workshops per year at Lower Mainland Health Care Facilities, in addition to managing multiple initiatives targeted at reducing identified risks and evaluating outcomes.

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