Part Two - Office of Construction and Facilities Management

2. Common building benchmarking: This is also a common method in that
there are a number of similar facilities, both public and private, that share
performance metrics for the purposes of comparison. The CBECS 32 has
been the most famous example; however, it is often not used because the
data set for healthcare is very small. VA has the ability to share information
between facilities for comparison and similarities. The recommendation is to
find methods to encourage this sharing in a way that is not threatening to the
facility managers.
3. Simulation benchmarking: This method of benchmarking is the most
powerful and the most useful for individual facilities. A facility is simulated
using a powerful simulation engine, such as the DOE EnergyPlus 33 , where
the results are compared to actual performance. This will allow facility
managers to model energy conservation proposals and to calculate accurate
savings for justification of capital expenditures.
Recommendation D, Staff Training: Facilities must support both research
and training of staff.
Include ongoing training of staff as IT systems and informatics play an
increasingly prominent role in care delivery and shape facility design.
Recommendation E, Living Laboratories: Create living laboratories 34 within
VA to gather clinical, financial, and facility information that is useful to
local sites as well as VA- and industry-wide.
Evaluation should be a collaborative process between local sites and VA-wide
initiatives. The nature of a living laboratory allows for effective data collection
and three-way knowledge translation to create a centralized source of
information for both local and VA-wide initiatives. Attention should be paid to the
display and dissemination of both service data and facility data obtained in the
living laboratories.
32 Department of Energy, Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey is a national sample
survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related
building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/
33
http://www.wbdg.org/tools/eplus.php
34
http://www.siib.org/research/research-home/optimal-healing.html
Part 2-38
FINAL DRAFT
June 2009