Is your medical facility looking to reduce the costs involved in repairing medical equipment used to treat patients? There are three important questions to answer when deciding how your facility will reduce the costs associated with repairing medical equipment.
First, it is important to know the overall expense for annual medical equipment maintenance and repair including repairs that are made in-house, those that are outsources, OEM, T&M and more. Next, it is essential to determine the cost of long term contracts that are in place regarding maintenance on medical equipment. Be sure to take note of what type of maintenance and repairs are covered by the long term contract. The last question that needs to be answered is what the actual cost reduction goal for the facility is. After these three questions are answered clarity regarding a plan of action in reducing the repair costs of medical equipment in your facility can reached.
Medical facilities are facing a myriad of uncertainties. There is a need for healthcare facilities to find ways to trim expenses and cut careless spending. It is vital that medical facilities recognize, measure, implement, and maintain a cost reduction strategy regarding maintenance and repairs to medical equipment in order to remain operational while enduring economic downturns.
In order to find ways to save money a facility needs to understand the cost of their current medical equipment maintenance program. To clearly see the big picture of the program that is currently in place it is key that all of the contracts regarding equipment maintenance are taken into consideration. The contracts should be completely understood. What do the contracts cover? Are failed parts replaced as a part of the contract? Does the contract fully cover the expense of labor and parts? Does the plan cover the expenses incurred whether they are in house, outsourced? What about the time and cost of materials be it new or refurbished? Reducing the costs within a medical facility are never easy but having a clearer understanding of the bigger picture and overall costs helps.
Take a complete inventory of all of the medical equipment that your facility currently has on hand. From linear accelerators to CT scanners access the number of pieces, their overall condition, repair history, replacement parts that have been installed and everything in between. Determine what is still being paid on the contracts. Many times facilities find that they are still paying on maintenance contracts on equipment that is no longer being used by the medical facility.
One way to cut costs is through this inventory process. There is no reason to pay on contracts on equipment that is no longer in use at the facility. By evaluating the current medical equipment in your facility and removing excess unused equipment or canceling contracts on equipment no longer at the facility medical facilities can save a significant amount of money.
Radparts is the world’s largest independent distributor of OEM replacement parts for Linear Accelerators and Radiation Oncology equipment. The mission is to provide high quality, user friendly, low cost parts support for linear accelerators and radiation equipment. For more information on low cost parts for repairing Linac equipment find us at http://www.radparts.com.