Should your maintenance team do PCREE testing, or should you hire a testing company? The answer usually comes down to three numbers: how many devices you have, how long each test takes your staff, and what the test equipment costs to own. Enter your numbers below. Everything is calculated in your browser.

PCREE In-House vs. Vendor Calculator

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In-house assumptions (edit any)

What In-House Testing Actually Requires

The labor is the easy part to estimate. The harder part is meeting the same documentation standard a surveyor expects from an outside company:

  • A qualified tester. Training and experience documentation for whoever runs the tests, kept with the report.
  • A calibrated analyzer. An electrical safety analyzer with a calibration certificate that was current on every test date.
  • Device-level results. Measured ground resistance and leakage current for each device, not a checkmark. See the sample report.
  • A process for failures. Tag-out, repair, re-test and records for every device that fails.
  • Coverage for new equipment. Rental, loaner and hospice devices tested before use, which means someone qualified has to be available between rounds.

Facilities cited under K921 most often had testing that was missing devices, undocumented or recorded as pass/fail only. Read PCREE testing company vs. in-house for the full comparison.

When In-House Makes Sense

In-house testing can pay off for operators with many buildings who share one trained technician, for hospital-affiliated SNFs that can use the hospital's biomed department, and for very large single facilities that combine PCREE testing with other equipment work. For most single facilities, the deciding factor is less the hourly math than the documentation burden: an outside company brings its own qualified technicians, calibrated analyzer and survey-ready report.

Why It Matters for Residents

PCREE testing checks whether the equipment touching residents could leak current or has lost its ground. Residents are often frail, incontinent or connected to several devices at once, so a fault that a healthy adult wouldn't notice can injure them. Whoever does the testing, a qualified biomedical technician with the right instrument is what makes the result trustworthy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to do PCREE testing in-house?
It depends on device count and staff cost. For a 120-bed facility with about 240 devices tested once a year, the calculator's default assumptions come to about $4,600 a year: roughly 58 staff hours plus analyzer ownership, calibration and training.
How much does an outside PCREE testing company cost?
Pricing depends mostly on device count. Our cost guide puts typical per-device testing at $15 to $40, or $2,000 to $8,000 a year under an annual contract. The fastest way to know is to get a quote for your device count.
What equipment do we need to test in-house?
An electrical safety analyzer that measures ground resistance and leakage current, with a current calibration certificate, plus a way to record device-level results.
Can maintenance staff do PCREE testing?
They can if they are trained and documented as qualified, use a calibrated analyzer and record measured values for each device. Surveyors look for that documentation.

About the Author

PCREE Test Editorial Team

Content reviewed by biomedical professionals with experience in patient care electrical equipment testing, NFPA 99 compliance, and CMS Life Safety survey preparation for skilled nursing facilities.