CME Insider's Blog Posts

A hospital system's offsite healthcare facilities or satellite facilities have many of the same equipment needs as the parent facilities but have different setups when it comes to the delivery and reception of these items.  

The unique requirements for off-site facilities (like physician offices, surgery centers, and rehab centers) require some additional attention to allow for a smooth delivery process.  

Since equipment is frequently purchased through the purchasing department of the hospital or IDN (integrated delivery network), it is important to bear in mind the special requirements of these facilities. 

Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act, most medical systems are doing a pretty tough balancing act; needing to improve healthcare quality while trying to decrease healthcare spending.  This becomes problematic when it comes to deciding on spending money on new capital equipment.

In the current healthcare environment most hospital systems and IDN’s have one or more of the following goals: improved quality of care, outstanding patient satisfaction, growing capacity to provide more integrated healthcare, and cutting costs.

Based on the numbers, healthcare facility development or expansion is likely in your future. Forward thinking and planning leads to positive action, and that’s how your expansion project will be developed. However, unlike other businesses, healthcare facilities have stringent laws and guidelines, checks and balances in every department.

So, how do you guarantee your patient-centered project will be a successful venture?

Purchasing medical equipment is an entirely different animal when doing so for off-site locations, such as maternity clinics, freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, or imaging centers.  When buying for facilities outside of the main hospital, there are several third-party individuals involved in whom you must place your trust.  That said, having too many hands in the pot often leads to mistakes due to miscommunication, among other things.  To help you combat these errors, we’ve come up with four tips to keep in mind when purchasing capital medical equipment for off-site locations.

While a competent, capable, and expert team of staff members is the backbone of any hospital or healthcare facility, having up-to-date and functional equipment can make it easier to provide extraordinary patient care.

Technologically advanced equipment not only improves patient satisfaction, but also increases staff efficiency - both of which lead to more revenue.  When you have ordered new medical equipment, how do you ensure that everything is set up properly and will be ready for immediate use?  

Here are five things to consider for the smoothest, most efficient equipment setup.

There is often a lack of understanding regarding the differences between the market segments of acute and non-acute facilities. These differences can have an immediate effect on the way products are ordered. More importantly, they can have an effect on how they are delivered, which can translate into high costs for non-acute customers and a potential supply chain nightmare.

It is not uncommon for procurement managers and buyers to become so focused on the large capital equipment items for their purchasing orders, that they overlook important supportive pieces that are required to make them functional.  These pieces may include consumables and accessory items that will ensure the operational readiness of the large capital items.

When buying products for a non-acute vs. an acute care facility you are, no doubt, well aware that the cost to acquire and implement capital equipment goes far beyond the purchase price.  Although there may be little or no difference in the product pricing per se, there may be a substantial difference in the delivery costs involved.  

Non-acute sites can often access the same products and pricing through a GPO contract due to their affiliation with an acute-care (in-patient) facility.  However, even though the product purchasing and pricing may be the same, the delivery and installation costs may be quite a different matter.

To the uninitiated, the medical manufacturing and distribution industry and social media couldn't be more dissimilar - to the point where many business leaders could make the mistake of believing that social media, or any online presence, is a waste of time.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  When leveraged properly, a social media presence can drive traffic to your website - along with potential revenue.