University Health System (UHS) in San Antonio, Texas achieved accredited certification to ISO 55001 Standards.
UHS is a nationally recognized teaching hospital and network of outpatient healthcare centers, owned by the people of Bexar County in Texas. UHS has been in existence for over 100 years and utilizes and maintains state-of-the-art healthcare equipment. The organization employs more than 7000 people, providing healthcare needs to South Texas.
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When the Director of Asset Management for UHS, Arthur Kurland, CPPA, came on-board in 2013, the various departments at UHS worked in relative isolation from one another – all striving to be the best in their respective areas, but lacking coordinated goals. In the process of searching for resources to get his staff educated in applying asset management practices, Mr. Kurland learned of the ISO 55000 standard and began following its progress to publication. Then in 2015, Mr. Kurland and the leadership of UHS decided to pursue ISO 55001 certification for two primary reasons:
- Give assurance to third parties that its organization is a good fiduciary steward of investment dollar.
- Encourage internal collaboration among staff.
It took UHS two years from beginning to end to complete the certification process, which involved many stakeholders and their contributions. In those two years, UHS has been able to engage, and involve, stakeholders throughout its Health System and keep Senior Management informed of the results of some of its Asset Management initiatives such as:
- Generated over $270,000 from the disposal of assets through online auctioning and recycling sales
- Reutilized over $68,000 of surplus assets, preventing unnecessary purchases
- Recycled over 120,000 pounds of metal, substantiating our position as good environmental stewards