A life-cycle cost analysis of resilient flooring materials in acute-care facilities

Abstract

Objective: This study compares the impact of maintenance protocols on coated and non-coated resilient flooring materials over the building life of an acute-care facility. The purpose of this study is to provide healthcare administrators, facility managers and designers with evidence regarding the total cost of ownership of different resilient flooring materials.
Methods: Utilizing a life-cycle costing analysis (LCCA), a two-phase economic evaluation was conducted using both industry and real-time data collected from four health systems across three distinct geographic regions in the U.S. to evaluate the impact of coated and non-coated resilient flooring materials over the usable life of an acute-care facility.
Results: Findings from both the first and second phase LCCA suggest that maintenance protocols can have a substantive impact on the total cost of ownership for resilient flooring materials due to the increase in operations and maintenance costs associated with a coated maintenance protocol. The point in time at which the factory applied finish failed for a non-coated flooring material was also shown to greatly contribute to the total cost of ownership.
Conclusions: The use of real-time data, coupled with a systematic evaluation provided contextual information that proved essential to understanding some of the intricacies involved in resilient flooring maintenance protocols that can greatly influence economic outcomes. This approach supports an evidence-based decision making process for healthcare executives and environmental services staff to not only effectively evaluate new resilient flooring material selections, but to also proactively evaluate current maintenance protocols for increased monetary savings.