Speakers were Joe Skochdopole, executive director of clinical engineering services for TriMedx, and Mikal Hensley, interim chief resource officer and vice president of operations for resource and supply management, North Florida/Gulf Coast region for Ascension Health. They were joined by Jim Bowles, director at Sacred Heart Hospital in Florida.
Mr. Skochdopole began the presentation, discussing the importance of reducing cost by standardizing clinical engineering practices. He emphasized that sustainability is key: while facilities can always take stop-gap measures to save money over the short term, they should instead focus on creating long-term savings.
Secret #1: Reduce Reliance on Service Contracts
The first thing providers can do to reduce costs is to decrease their reliance on service contracts, Mr. Hensley says. Service contracts are expensive and serve as the primary source of income for manufacturers along with capital acquisitions. ASCs can particularly benefit from reducing their reliance on service contracts, as these facilities tend to be more reliant on service contracts than independent delivery networks or large hospital systems.
Secret #2: Control Your Vendors
Mr. Skochdopole says providers can save money by using labor on a transactional basis, so the vendor comes in when the provider has a problem with the device and charges the provider for parts and labor. He says providers should also closely monitor the invoices vendors submit for that demand labor to ensure that common mistakes — such as charging while the equipment is still under warranty or producing duplicate invoices — are caught.
Secret #3: Control Equipment Throughout the Entire Life Cycle
According to Mr. Hensley, the life cycle of a piece of equipment can be broken down into two primary cost factors: the acquisition cost/capital cost and the cost to maintain. Both are very important to the financial success of an organization.
Acquiring equipment: While traditionally facilities may have ordered “what they wanted when they wanted it,” Mr. Hensley says it can now be devastating to a budget to find a particular piece of equipment needs to be fixed or replaced if the budget hasn’t planned for that expense. He says providers can save money by identifying if several areas of a facility need similar pieces of equipment, as well as adequately preparing the site for installation of the new piece of equipment. This preparation might include removing doors or installing lighting and electrical power prior to the equipment arriving on site.
Maintaining equipment: In order to ensure a long life for a piece of equipment, the facility needs to perform preventative maintenance. The provider can also repair the equipment if an unexpected failure occurs, but PM should be conducted regularly after-hours to minimize the incidence of failure.
Replacing equipment: Toward the end of a piece of equipment’s life, the provider must consider replacement criteria. Mr. Skochdopole and Mr. Hensley recommend people from the organization sit down and discuss quantitative measures — such as age, physical condition, hospital image, obsoleteness and cost to maintain that determine the factors — that determine when the equipment should be replaced.
Secret #4: Develop or Recruit Technical Expertise
Mr. Skochdopole and Mr. Hensley recommend providers develop technical expertise among the organization’s staff. They can accomplish this by sending staff members to training programs, as well as forming relationships with local groups of experts.
Secret #5: Mitigate Risk
According to the presenters, the number one priority for a provider is to ensure equipment is safe for the patient and mitigate any legal risk, then to mitigate expense or financial risk.
Secret #6: Collaborate With Clinical Staff to Optimize Medical Device Utilization
According to Mr. Hensley, a facility must have solid relationships with the clinical staff — the people who actually use the equipment — to save money. For example, hospital departments should empower their clinical staff member to keep equipment at peak performance.
Secret #7: Measure, Monitor and Report Performance
Mr. Skochdopole and Mr. Hensley say providers should track financial performance of equipment to determine the equipment’s repair frequency and whether the equipment is a good candidate for replacement. “It’s important to demonstrate how a medical equipment provider is helping an ASC or hospital survive financially,” Mr. Hensley says. The organization should also measure regulatory compliance to ensure equipment is in line with standards put forth by the AAAHC, Joint Commission or other accrediting bodies.
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