The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to cripple the healthcare equipment supply chain. Raw materials such as steel, chrome, aluminum, plastic, and electronic parts are scarce, demand is high, and global transportation is bottlenecked all along the supply chain. Add a shortage of workers in the factories, at the docks, at rail yards, trucking companies, within healthcare systems, and you’ve encountered the perfect storm.

We are seeing lead times on some items increase to five and six months. These longer lead times delay the opening of crucial new medical facilities, and they also hamper healthcare systems’ financial recoveries from the pandemic.

Here are four ways CME Corp can assist you in getting your equipment on-time:

As we observe Falls Prevention Awareness Week, now is a better time than ever to review the different ways your healthcare facility can minimize and prevent patient falls. Using the appropriate equipment to lift, move, or transport patients not only minimizes falls, but it also mitigates staff injuries and provides a safe environment for all. Reducing caregivers’ injuries is especially important right now since the COVID-19 pandemic has left many healthcare facilities short-staffed. No one wants to lose a caregiver to a work-related injury.

The Joint Commission (TJC) is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. Most hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC), and other healthcare facilities are accredited through TJC. Once accredited, healthcare facilities are inspected at least once every three years.

The Joint Commission’s mandate is to increase the quality of patient care by elevating standards and delivery systems in healthcare facilities nationwide. TJC has always been laser-focused on infection prevention, environment of care, and emergency management. As we continue to live through the Covid-19 pandemic, inspections will be even more focused on these important elements.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a steady growth of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) across the country. The growth was predicated on the fact that many elective surgeries - and some less complicated procedures - cost less to perform in the ASC setting than in the acute-care setting. Well, COVID-19 escalated that growth.

As hospitals treated more and more COVID-19 cases, procedures and surgeries that could've been moved to ASCs were quickly moved. Now, with an influx of private equity money, the growth of ASCs is even more accelerated.

Veterans Homes are facilities that provide nursing home, assisted living, and adult day care services for American Veterans. They are owned, operated, and managed by state governments and further funded by the federal government. In 2018, approximately 7% of our population were veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Even though the Veteran population has been shrinking, the percentage of Veterans with disabilities is growing, which makes Veterans Homes even more essential. CME Corp is proud to work with many states in providing products and services for new or renovated Veterans Homes. Recently, CME partnered with Rhode Island on their new, 208-bed Bristol Veterans Home to source, procure, assemble, and install the requested medical equipment, furniture, and physical therapy apparatus. 

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as cited in a recent Building Forward article, 169 million tons of building construction and demolition waste was generated in 2015 (the latest period for which data is available.)  Only 38% of this debris was recovered for recycling.  This is a big number and one that many are looking to improve.  

CME has been working on decreasing the amount of waste generated at a construction site for years.  Not only is it important from a green perspective but decreasing waste at a construction site also helps the healthcare facility streamline activities at the site and ultimately facilitates on-time construction schedules.  All of these factors are extremely important to healthcare facilities.  

CME has focused on three specific areas to help decrease waste at healthcare construction sites.

With 100 healthcare facilities belonging to its cooperative, the Atlanta, Ga.-based nonprofit Partners Cooperative (Partners) is one of the oldest, longest-standing groups within Vizient Inc., the nation’s leading healthcare performance improvement company serving more than half of the health care organizations in the U.S.

A new line of scales has hit the market and are ideal for facilities standardizing on metric only measurements. Health o Meter Professional Scales recently launched an additional series of new models to its extensive line of kilogram only scales. Always striving to make things “weigh easier” for healthcare providers, Health o meter Professional Scales developed these KG only products with high-contrast color screens and interactive interfaces. While the scales are new, users will be glad to hear the extensive operating functions found on the manufacturers top selling scales remain standard; including Tare, Recall, Time/Date and more.

Is your basement or warehouse a graveyard for old healthcare equipment? When you do a full-scale equipment replacement project, do you grapple with what to do with the old equipment? Does your biomed/facilities department struggle with manpower to sort through and decide what to do with your retired medical and healthcare devices? If you answered yes to any of these questions, CME Corp has the answer. CME has a full array of disposition services ranging from buying back your old equipment to a full-service disposition partner agreement.