Continuing our two-part series on operations challenges we expect hospitals and health systems to see in 2025, we explore those facing the engineering and operations teams. Taking what we’ve learned from 2024, here’s what we expect operations teams across health systems in the United States to come up against in the next year, and how to prepare for it now.
Challenges and suggested actions for healthcare operations teams in 2025
Challenge: Lack of skilled trades available in the market (HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing) and aging workforce
Engineers and operations are specialized workforces in any building; but in a hospital, building complexity is multiplied by at least a factor of ten. Next year will continue to see retirement across senior operations management at record levels. Critical systems are particularly vulnerable to this shift. While availability of skilled tradespeople is expected to rise as enrollment in trade schools has grown significantly in recent years, it will take a while to replace the tribal knowledge of retiring employees.
Suggested action:
Begin mentorship programs across operations teams. Invest in junior engineers who reach tenure milestones within your organizations and ensure they are cross-trained for all operational roles. Rely on trusted service providers to fill gaps and keep things moving during times of transition.
Challenge: Increased emergency capital from unexpected equipment failures
Equipment is aging and operations budgets have been squeezed since COVID. 2025 will bring a continuance of this trend, while the looming threat of additional tariffs on foreign materials may likely make emergency repairs even more costly.
Suggested action:
Start getting familiar with your deferred maintenance backlog now. Get connected to operational data as soon as possible to trend performance and begin predicting repairs based on actual operation. Create an emergency maintenance budget forecast and include a 50% markup for materials on current costs.
Challenge: Improving sustainability without sacrificing resiliency and patient care.
Many hospitals in the west are already focused on resiliency as seismic retrofits take larger shares of capital budgets. This will continue in 2025 with the added complication of rising insurance rates.
Suggested action:
Incorporating resiliency into sustainability planning can help operations teams take a comprehensive view of these challenges. Patient care is always number one, but if done right, all three goals can be accomplished in a single at-bat.
