Do You Know Where Your Equipment Assets Are Located?

Have you experienced the challenges associated with locating mobile patient monitoring or infusion equipment? Have you wanted to implement asset tracking technology (RFID) without the time or human resources to complete the task? Has your clinical engineering’s PM completion rate been artificially low or inaccurate because the team was “not servicing” items didn’t still exist on the inventory? Last year NYP’s IT Finance Department, who oversees various clinical technology teams, decided they needed an accurate inventory and a new asset tag that would allow for technology infrastructure upgrades. With nine campuses and over 130,000 recorded assets, the various teams did not have the internal hours necessary to complete the job without interruptions to operational maintenance. Being an equipment focused distributor with a heavy emphasis on related services, NYP called on CME to assist. Here are a few highlights of the project.

Scope of Work

CME was provided a comprehensive list of approximately 130,000 assets and a time-line was set for a little over a year. Our biomed technicians had to find each of the items on the initial list as well as find any equipment that might NOT be on the list. CME was replacing old asset tags with new RFID tracking labels along with collecting the data.

CME sent an automated email update weekly on progress and shared an export of data, updated in real time. Data included:

• Manufacturer
• Existing/New Control Numbers
• New RFID tag
• Model/Serial Number
• Condition
• Updated Location: Address/Building/Floor/Department/Room
• Previous Inspection/Next Inspection Date

Communication Was Key

A different biomedical team managed each campus. CME knew it was crucial to collaborate and communicate with each biomed department as well as the IT Finance team. NYP was extremely helpful in providing CME full access to all its facilities. NYP vendor badges were provided to all CME staff giving clearance for all biomed/patient and lab areas.

For the clinical staff, at times our work might seem intrusive. For this reason, it was critical for NYP teams to communicate and set an expectation for this project with the campus staff early on. This was established through NYP leadership during morning huddles and staff emails. Reinforcement of this expectation was practiced by the CME team as well. To ensure limited disruption of workflow, CME would be sure to introduce themselves to nurse management and any nearby clinical staff when entering a patient area.

The Results

To maximize productivity and minimize intrusion, CME sometimes started their day at 4am and ended the day at 1am. Flexibility was important. CME found over 30,000 discrepancies that they resolved. Many pieces of equipment had been decommissioned without the items being removed from their system and some items were found that that had been purchased but not inspected by the biomedical team. The final asset total was just over 100,000 pieces and 700,000+ data points were recorded.

The project took about 18 months. NYP asked CME to stop work at one point. They were having trouble entering the information into their new CMMS. After that delay, CME resumed the job. NYP was pleased with the results and timeframe in which it was accomplished. Now they have up-to-date information on all of their assets, and know when they need to be replaced and/or inspected.

For more information on this project or CME’s biomedical services offerings, please visit our website, email servicesolutions@cmecorp.com, or call 1-800-338-2372.

About CME: CME Corp is the nation’s premier source for healthcare equipment, turnkey logistics, and biomedical services, representing 2 million+ products from more than 2,000 manufacturers.

With two corporate offices and 35+ service centers, our mission is to help healthcare facilities nationwide reduce the cost of the equipment they purchase, make their equipment specification, delivery, installation, and maintenance processes more efficient, and help them seamlessly launch, renovate and expand on schedule.