Confessions of a Clinical Engineer

How Much Do You Know About Healthcare IT?

2013-04-26T17:52:00Z

As radiology departments and hospitals in general are going digital, there is more and more that many of us don't know. We are being marginalized because we may not understand the entire picture. As all devices in hospitals talk to other devices, the people running the show are either in the IT department or from consulting companies under contract with the hospital. Would you like to know more about Healthcare IT (HIT)? Well, you are in luck. The federal government realized a couple of years ago...(read more)

The Real Cost of Maintaining Imaging Equipment

2013-04-05T15:01:00Z

I recently began following a website called " Warranty Week ". I believe that they are uniquely able to report the actual cost that companies must spend to support capital equipment during the initial warranty period and for subsequent years following. It works like this: All publically traded companies in the US must file an annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this report is a financial piece which, among other things, they must set aside the estimated cost to pay...(read more)

Who is Your Trusted Advisor?

2013-03-01T20:23:00Z

I just got back from visiting a few hospitals in Florida. I don't sell any products or services. My job is to provide education and training on a variety of subjects not related to imaging, or anything that my company does. I deal with the hospital-based imaging engineer, BMET and the manager or director of clinical engineering. My weeklong visit to Florida consisted of hearing lots of troubles and conflicts from within hospitals. Most revolved around money, budget, staffing and changes to upper...(read more)

Two New Professional Associations

2013-02-19T20:35:00Z

Although there are several national associations to which clinical engineers belong, there are many places in the US where there is not a local option. Local associations are important because of the ability to personally attend meetings and network with others in the area. During these meetings (which may happen any time from monthly to quarterly), attendees can share information about what other hospitals are doing, problems they are having and even which local salespeople can be trusted to do...(read more)

Managing Imaging Equipment

2013-01-31T19:59:00Z

You work with equipment. Equipment is technical, by nature. As Radiology and management professionals, you must rely on others for the technical information about the inner workings, reliability, accuracy and life cycle cost of your imaging equipment. If you work in a hospital, your access to information about new technology, the stability of companies, and the level of cooperation that you will receive after the sale is limited. Limited to other imaging professionals, manufacturer's employees, your...(read more)

Seeking Input

2013-01-04T14:32:00Z

I actively seek input from my fellow clinical engineers around the country about medical device companies that seem to gouge their customers. I share these reports at my blog - www.HTMDirt.com . The name stands for Healthcare Technology Management Dirt, which is patterned after a similar site designed for technology and computers in general. It is called www.TechDirt.com . I invite you to visit it and read about some of the ways that companies take advantage of their positions to squeeze additional...(read more)

Preserve Your Options

2012-12-26T23:14:00Z

I keep up to date with Modern Healthcare, Healthcare IT , AHRA, and many other healthcare news outlets. If there is one thing that I can determine about the future, it’s that nobody is sure what will happen. Most people seem to believe that things will get worse before they get better, but just how much worse is a subject of great debate. And which parts of healthcare will be hit the hardest? Will it be physicians? Insurance companies? The government? Hospitals? Will it be large hospitals? Teaching...(read more)

Risk, as in Gambling

2012-10-16T23:26:00Z

I am at a conference in Las Vegas. As such, I am surrounded by every conceivable method ever devised to separate people from their money. Except as a way to spice up a friendly poker game among friends, I am not a gambler. As a hospital manager who has control of a significant budget, I am trained to not put hospital assets at risk. Obviously, you don't bet your budget on a roll of the dice. That would be very irresponsible. But as hospital costs rise and revenues shrink, even the "elite" departments...(read more)

Just Back from AHRA

2012-08-27T19:50:00Z

I was in Orlando last week for AHRA: the Association for Medical Imaging Management. It was my third meeting. It never fails to get better. Of course, the exhibit hall was full of equipment manufacturers and many companies offering after-warranty service. But the real magic happened in the classrooms. There were so many presentations advising hospitals how to reduce their imaging equipment service costs. I am still digging through the materials I collected. It's good to know that I am not the only...(read more)

Healthcare Technology Management

2012-07-18T21:43:00Z

When a group of 30 people influential in the biomed field met in May 2010 in Arlington, Va., our goals were to examine the future of the biomedical/clinical engineering/medical equipment maintenance arena and to select the most appropriate name for the profession. Attendees included biomedical educators, clinical engineers, BMETs, manufacturers, ISOs, directors, nurses, administrators, and the Office of Veterans Health Administration. Most of the cost of the meeting was born by the Association for...(read more)

Saving Now or Later

2012-06-13T14:07:00Z

GPOs and materials management personnel are rewarded by the amount of money they can save TODAY. Their contributions (or lack thereof) toward equipment purchases are long forgotten by the time the service costs roll in. Budgets and bonuses are yearly, so reward systems that encourage behaviors that look into the future are nonexistent. And I do not know of a single reward system or performance metric that takes into account future projected costs or savings. Savings are rewarded after the fact, not...(read more)

Reducing Costs

2012-05-04T18:39:00Z

Let's face it--we all are under pressures to reduce costs and do more with less, all the while increasing patient safety, uptime, reliability and dependability of imaging equipment. You may not know it, but you have some free resources at hand to help with these tasks. All hospitals have one or more people who repair medical equipment throughout the hospital--the heart monitors, infusion pumps, thermometers, and so forth. Even if you are not using these people to repair your imaging equipment, they...(read more)

Buying Service

2012-02-13T21:51:00Z

Let's talk about the cost of obtaining labor from various sources for medical device repair. We all know that when an item (or system) of equipment is purchased new, the manufacturer typically offers a full maintenance package. It is good marketing to do this because obtaining a multi-year service arrangement at the time of equipment sale accomplishes several things for the seller. First, it subsidizes the purchase by helping the manufacturer recoup some of the money that they had to give up in capital...(read more)

The Total Cost of Medical Device Maintenance

2012-01-04T13:23:00Z

For 37 years, I have worked for hospitals or for companies who fix medical equipment for hospitals. In this role, I've been the advocate for the hospital and ultimately, the patient. I always have been conscious of the cost to the hospital and the effects of medical maintenance costs on the overall cost of health care. When I moved into management 33 years ago, I also became aware that the total cost of maintaining a medical device extends far beyond the hourly rate that the repairer charges you...(read more)

New Blogger: Here to Help You

2011-12-13T13:45:00Z

By Patrick K. Lynch, CBET, CCE Hello. This is the first of what I hope are many opportunities I will have to talk with you. Let me use this first installment to tell you a little about me and why you may benefit from reading this blog. I live in Charlotte (actually just across the border in South Carolina) and work as a clinical engineer. I have developed a "cocktail party" description of what I do--"I fix heart monitors in hospitals." This is highly inadequate, but it suffices for the casual acquaintance...(read more)