Migrating Ultrasound Service In-House

Abstract

As hospital budgets get smaller and imaging reimbursements decline, more healthcare facilities are migrating ultrasound service support to in-house clinical engineering departments. Most facilities already have a highly trained in-house staff that can support their ultrasound departments with the right program in place. When considering current contract and time and materials spending with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the cost savings can outweigh the additional costs incurred through increased staff hours, training, and test equipment. It’s not unusual for healthcare facilities to show a 20% to 40% reduction in ultrasound maintenance costs when all the savings and cost data is considered per ultrasound system taken in-house versus full service agreements with the OEM. Some OEMs do offer shared service agreements that allow for some autonomy but, even with aggressive discounts on parts and probes, it is unlikely that the pricing will be competitive with an independent service organization (ISO) offering the same products. Another key advantage to in-house support is the increase in equipment uptime. In-house staff already is on site and able to respond quickly. This can translate into increased revenue and, more importantly, satisfied customers. In addition to primary response engineers, there can be a second tier of in-house technicians who can be trained to perform a first look/triage on systems if the primary engineer is unavailable. This can allow for faster response with possible repair or parts being ordered the same day for next-day delivery. Facilities should work with an experienced partner to study their equipment to determine high failure parts and keep them available for same-day repairs. Convenience of scheduled maintenance and unscheduled service response is another factor to consider. Inhouse staff typically are more flexible in adapting to a department’s schedule than outside service organizations for service, preventive maintenance (PM), or just stopping in for a follow-up. Records management also is critical to any imaging and medical equipment maintenance program. Often outside service representatives perform service, PM, or product updates without checking in or leaving documentation with a department. I have found this to be an issue with virtually every facility I have visited in my career. By performing ultrasound service in-house, all maintenance records are uniform and available for inspection by departments and accrediting agencies. There will be times when an outside service organization may need to provide assistance, but these calls should be routed through clinical engineering for tracking purposes, and outside organizations should not perform any service without clinical engineering’s consent.