The Real Cost of Keeping Bed Maintenance In-House

As a hospital facilities manager or HTM director, you’re no stranger to tight budgets and rising expectations. Every dollar spent on maintenance must deliver measurable value, and every asset must perform reliably to support patient care. One of your most critical responsibilities is ensuring hospital beds—integral to care delivery—remain functional, safe, and cost-efficient. Strategic bed maintenance can address your financial challenges head-on, offering tangible savings and improving ROI.

The Cost of Neglected Maintenance

A neglected hospital bed isn’t just a liability—it’s a drain on your resources. Without regular maintenance, beds fail more often, leading to costly repairs, downtime, and earlier-than-necessary replacements. And when beds are unavailable, your hospital’s patient flow takes a hit, causing bottlenecks in admissions, delays in transfers, and even a loss in revenue.

You know the drill: the cost of replacing a single bed can be tens of thousands of dollars, but the real challenge lies in justifying why these expenses are spiraling. What if there were a way to demonstrate clear savings and operational value to leadership?

Preventive Maintenance Saves Costs (and Headaches)

Preventive maintenance isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. Proactive inspections and adjustments can double the useful life of beds, slashing capital expenditures (CapEx).

Consider this example: A 500-bed hospital with a $6 million inventory of medical beds can reduce annual replacement costs from $1.2 million to $600 thousand by extending bed lifespans from 5 to 10 years. That’s $600 thousand saved annually—a number your CFO can’t ignore and helps HTM departments justify costs of a robust hospital bed maintenance program like Emeritus’s Bed Maintenance 2.0.

And it’s not just about money. Preventive maintenance also minimizes emergency repair calls, freeing up your team to focus on planned projects rather than putting out fires.

Predictive Maintenance Takes Efficiency to the Next Level

Leveraging technology like IoT-enabled beds allows you to take a more targeted approach. Instead of waiting for failures, predictive maintenance uses data from sensors to alert your team to potential issues before they escalate.

For example, if a sensor detects strain in a bed motor, you can address it before it fails entirely. This means fewer surprises, fewer disruptions, and more efficient use of your team’s time and resources.

Clear ROI Metrics Matter

As a facilities manager or HTM director, you need hard numbers to make your case to leadership. Tracking and presenting metrics like downtime reduction, extended bed lifespans, and cost avoidance can clearly demonstrate the ROI of strategic maintenance. For a hospital facing relentless cost pressures, those metrics could be the key to maintaining or increasing your department’s budget.