CME Insider's Blog Posts

The CME Corp. Government Team has over 30 years of government sales experience and the resources to make your projects and everyday purchasing go smoothly from start to finish. Whether you are purchasing a singular replacement product or outfitting a new facility, remodeling or expanding an existing location, our project planning, turnkey logistics, and services are completely tailored to meet government client’s needs. CME can assist you with identifying and procuring healthcare equipment for all your government projects, whether for DoD, VA, Indian Health, state, or local government facilities. To make acquisition of product easier, we hold major federal contracts including a Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, DoD ECAT, DoD DAPA. We are also and contracted supplier for some State / Local government co-ops / gpo’s.

Opening a new medical facility on-time is always challenging. An MCD (Medical Construction & Design) survey in 2018 said that less than 50% of all projects open on time. If we did that poll today, it would even be less, given all the supply chain delays. One common problem when opening any healthcare facility is completing all the biomedical asset-tagging and ESIs (Electrical Safety Inspections) required in a timely fashion. These biomedical check-ins cannot happen until items are delivered and installed in rooms, which is typically near the end of the project. New healthcare facilities have anywhere from 1,000-4,000 pieces of new equipment that require biomedical attention.

Healthcare systems have varied long term goals, but most providers want to improve infection control, foster better patient outcomes, and save money. CME and Comfortex can help you do all three.

Hospital mattresses have been targets of The Joint Commission (TJC) during inspections and the FDA in a recent MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience) adverse event report. Comfortex has pioneered advanced mattress alternatives for nearly 40 years and addressed the issues that plague other mattress manufacturers.

There is a clear need to better understand and monitor the long-term effects of COVID-19, and that starts with increasing PFT availability by adding testing equipment wherever possible.

Much attention has been focused on the ever-rising death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the “light in the darkness” is that, thanks to the heroic efforts of physicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, and the rest of the clinical team, most people infected by the virus do, in fact, recover.

In addition, many who get infected don’t even encounter an inpatient care team. These mild COVID-19 cases are managed much like other respiratory infections - with supportive care and other therapies prescribed through an ambulatory care provider. But as we enter the third year of this pandemic and learn more about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we continue to encounter more and more surprises.

The end of the year is a busy time in the healthcare industry, and if you’re responsible for equipment purchases, you’re surely aware of the time running out for budgeted items. Add a global pandemic into the mix and you'll understand that time is of the essence. You may have approved items that have yet to be purchased before year-end or else you'll lose the approval.  Or, you may have a budget allocated that, if unspent, it will be reduced next year.

Gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy is incredibly helpful for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of many digestive diseases. Endoscopes used for procedures are notoriously hard to clean, and there are gaps and variations in implementing effective infection prevention practices for them.

Sure, proper cleaning protocols are absolutely critical, but if the endoscopes are not dried properly, this can lead to patient infections which no one wants! Choosing the right scope cabinet can help standardize cleaning routines, decrease infections, comply with The Joint Commission (TJC) inspections protocol, and keep track of all your endoscopes.

Here are three reasons to choose the InnerSpace Ventaire™ Cabinet:

Crash carts are an essential part of any medical facility. These carts need to be properly supplied and secured to ensure availability when an urgent situation arises. It is important that these carts are standardized throughout the facility as you never know where or when a situation may occur

Crash carts need to be ready to take on an emergency. Is yours? If the answer is no, then you might have some work to do. If your crash cart isn’t being utilized efficiently, there are a few underlying reasons as to why that is. The first is that the crash cart you invested in isn’t a proper match for your facility. The second revolves around supply management. Having the right supplies on a crash cart is vital because caregivers often need them immediately for the patient to survive.

In a 12-month data review of hospital data, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority found 56 reports that showed emergency response calls where supplies or equipment were missing or expired. Of the 56 statements, 35 referenced issues with crash carts themselves, and 21 referenced problems with unavailable supplies or other supply management issues.

The challenges faced by today’s healthcare providers are demanding and vast. Within this mix are the problems faced when using regular, outdated wheelchairs.

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: