Biomedical departments in large healthcare systems play a vital role in the:
- Inspection of new equipment, pre-acceptance checks, asset-tagging, and training
- Maintenance of all equipment and monitoring service contracts
- Managing required monthly preventive maintenance schedules for equipment
- Maintaining an inventory of new and existing equipment
- Capital budgeting, equipment evaluation, purchasing equipment, and analyzing the total cost of ownership
- Monitoring equipment recall notifications, maintaining regulatory compliance, and reporting to safety committees.
Today healthcare systems are challenged by an aging population and staffing shortages. Biomed departments are no exception and are also being stretched to the limit. CME Corp's Biomedical Technicians are available to supplement biomedical departments in healthcare systems and facilities across the United States.
six different customers. Six Biomed challenges Solved.
Capital Budgeting
A large medical center in the Boston area needed to evaluate their existing equipment to help with capital planning and budget, however technicians were unavailable to do this in time for the budget process. CME provided inventory services for approximately 8,000 items. We recorded general data such as model #’s, serial #’s, and the general condition of the item.
Once the inventory process was completed, we reviewed each item, assigned current monetary values, and determined whether the item was supported and/or due for replacement.
We designated two technicians to this project for three months, as well as several members of our administrative team to complete reports and follow-ups with hospital Biomed personnel. The medical center was able to complete their budget and accurately forecast their new equipment needs.
Inventory Maintenance
A world-class teaching hospital in the Northeast needed to inspect, retag, and re-enter all Radiology department equipment into their inventory management system. They did not have the manpower to accomplish this in a timely fashion. CME inspected approximately 2,400 items, changed asset tags, and then re-entered all items into their inventory management system.
We had four Biomed technicians on the job for six weeks. The hospital Biomed department was able to complete this high priority task with CME’s help in a short timeframe.
Maintenance Contracts
A large IDN was an early adopter of an EMR system and was experiencing mechanical breakdowns with their IT carts and arms. This was adversely affecting patient care as the IDN had no one maintaining these important pieces of equipment. IT thought that the Biomed department should be doing maintenance and Biomed thought that IT should be responsible. Neither had the bandwidth to perform the much-needed upkeep.
CME provided a maintenance contract for the carts and arms that included annual preventative maintenance and loaner units as needed. Regular maintenance significantly reduced the frequency and number of breakdowns. CME also worked with staff to set maintenance standards for new equipment.
Newly Constructed Facility Biomedical Equipment Inspections and Inventory
A national healthcare system was opening multiple new medical office buildings and their Biomed department was unable to complete all the safety inspections, functionality checks, and asset-tagging in time for the facilities’ opening dates. As everyone knows, when a new facility opening is delayed everyday is considered lost revenue. CME was asked to step in and help with the inspections and asset-tagging. The new facilities opened on-time and were fully functional.
Patient Monitor Check-In
CME provided technical support to the biomed staff at a large hospital to help deploy over 500 GE Carescape patient monitors. Support included monitor setup, electrical safety testing, visual inspections, and full preventive maintenance checks.
CME also assisted their IT department by setting up each monitor on the network, deploying each monitor to its perspective location within the hospital and lastly, tagging and inventorying each item for the customer's records. Throughout the project there was minimal disruption to the patients and staff.
Inventory Validation
CME Corp’s Service Solutions Biomedical Techs successfully executed an accurate inventory of over 100,000 devices across nine locations within a large IDN. The inventory project included finding and resolving approximately 30,000 discrepancies noted on an inventory list provided by the IDN.
Our Biomed Technicians collected Manufacturer, Existing/New Control Numbers, Model/Serial Number, Condition, Location, and Inspection Status data and reported the findings daily.
CME started and ended their day around the department hours in each location. In some cases that meant starting at 4 am and ending at 1 pm.
Collaboration, communication, and flexibility allowed all 100,000 assets to be located, inventoried, and tagged over an eighteen month period.
Any one of these case studies can happen in your healthcare system.
If you need to augment your current Biomed department for any reason, let CME help. Our Biomedical Service Team prides itself on its flexibility. We choose the solution that best fits the needs of our customers rather than the easy way.
For more information on our biomedical services, visit our website or call (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.
