Got an opportunity to audit several HCA hospitals in Tennessee but their procurement process is intimidating. They want detailed RFPs, references from other hospital chains, and proof of HIPAA compliance training. Worth the effort or should I stick to smaller facilities?
HCA Hospital Chain - Anyone Working These Accounts?
Oscar, HCA is tough to crack but worth it once you're in. Their facilities are huge energy users - we're talking $50K-200K monthly bills per hospital. The key is showing ROI quickly since their CFOs are very numbers-driven. Also, they standardize a lot across facilities, so if you find an issue at one location, it often exists system-wide.
Gloria's right about the standardization. We found incorrect power factor penalties at 3 HCA facilities in Middle Tennessee - saved them $31K total over 18 months. The challenge is their corporate energy team in Nashville reviews everything, so you need to present findings that scale across their portfolio.
Both good points. HCA also has very sophisticated energy management, so don't expect to find obvious errors like wrong rate schedules. Look for subtle things like demand ratchet provisions, power quality issues from medical equipment, or billing errors during rate transitions. Their legal team will want bulletproof documentation for any recovery claims.
Thanks everyone. Sounds like the juice is worth the squeeze if I can get past their initial screening. Going to focus on power quality issues since they have a lot of sensitive imaging equipment that could be causing problems.