The healthcare sector is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries worldwide. It is also quite diverse – ranging from small medical clinics and rehabilitation centers to huge hospitals and pharmaceuticals companies. However, no matter their size or focus, these organizations all share a common purpose of ensuring that all patients get the best type of care for their needs.
And in order to do that, all healthcare facilities need to keep their critical assets in top shape in order to effectively and successfully run their medical operations. In fact, the healthcare industry is one of the most asset-heavy industries, relying on all sorts of different vital medical equipment in order to operate. These assets include but are definitely not limited to equipment such as: ambulance fleets, hospital beds, ventilators, IV pumps, generators, X-ray machines, HVAC systems, air purifiers, surgical equipment, monitors and so much more.
The Costs of Medical Assets
The costs for hospitals and other medical facilities to acquire and maintain medical equipment are immense. Research shows that a disproportionately high level of healthcare spending goes towards medical equipment, and more specifically that $93 billion is spent yearly on medical equipment lifecycle costs (MELC).
However, lack of effective and efficient management of these medical assets is causing large medical organizations like hospitals to lose up to 16% of savings due to lost, underutilized or poorly maintained medical equipment. Considering how competitive the healthcare sector is, if healthcare organizations are not able to run their operations in an efficient and cost-effective manner, they could go out of business.
The Importance of Compliance
In addition to lost cost savings, poor management of medical facilities and equipment can lead to major legal trouble. Healthcare facilities have the challenge of running their operations while remaining compliant with the high standards stipulated by regulatory bodies. They have hundreds to thousands of different types of assets to maintain, each with their own regulations and standards that need to be followed.
Healthcare does not tolerate inefficiencies because any errors in managing infrastructure greatly increase the chances of compromising patients’ health and consequently, increases liability risk and other legal issues. That is why it is so important for healthcare facilities to prioritize their equipment and space maintenance so that they are keeping their buildings and assets clean and in top shape and meeting government regulations as well.
CMMS for the Healthcare Industry
To effectively track and maintain the condition of all medical assets vital to a healthcare facility’s operations while making sure they also meet strict health code regulations provided by different governing bodies requires a comprehensive maintenance management strategy.
That is why hospitals and other healthcare organizations are turning to facilities management software to help them run their medical facilities and equipment management operations.
Also known as a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), a CMMS can provide an all-encompassing maintenance management solution for healthcare organizations that includes asset and inventory management, work order and service request workflows, preventative maintenance, fleet management and so much more.
As a result of using a CMMS, hospitals and other healthcare facilities can extend the lifecycle of their assets, ensure compliance for key equipment, track inventory, and prevent equipment downtime, and increase overall productivity within their operations.
How a CMMS Helps Medical Organizations With Their Operations
Just like other industries out there, health service providers want to provide excellent services yet get the most out of their investments. To do so, they need to embrace every opportunity that enables them to manage their assets in a way that eliminates waste and maximizes labor, time, and other resources optimally without an unnecessary increase in costs.
The most valuable assets within this industry include its human capital and physical assets. Physical assets alone such as buildings and equipment often account for the greatest capital expenditure in this industry. Therefore, it’s prudent to deploy any tools that are designed for managing such assets. This is the reason why more healthcare providers are turning to a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to help them achieve the following:
Asset Maintenance Best Practices
A CMMS program is a tool that helps with automating several core activities in asset lifecycle management such as generating and tracking work orders, scheduling inspections, and streamlining different facilities within preventive maintenance.
It allows healthcare administrators to plan and implement the appropriate maintenance practices for each asset in the shortest possible time. Facilities managers can track maintenance history on all of their assets, and schedule preventative maintenance inspections on a regular basis. IoT sensors and meters can be connected so that unusual equipment activity can be recognized and addressed.
Further, a modern CMMS is mobile-enabled so that the maintenance unit can interact and respond quickly whenever their attention is required – no matter where they are located. Collaboration can then be executed across locations in order to solve any potential problems from afar.
Management of Medical Inventory
Facilities managers within the medical industry can rely on a CMMS to track all inventory of medical supplies and parts. The system stores key information such as where each item is located, how much of each item there is, manuals or informational pamphlets for each item, manufacturer details, pricing and supplier information and more.
A CMMS can be automated so that when inventory levels reach a low threshold, restock orders are generated for various suppliers. This way, hospitals will never experience any shortage of medical supplies that could lead to equipment downtime or disrupt hospital care schedules. And transactions can be followed and recorded in order to track costs and optimize savings.
Regulation Compliance & Standardized Operating Procedures
Hospitals and other medical facilities must follow strict government regulations and undergo rigid audits for their property and maintenance operations. Due to its powerful information processing capabilities, a CMMS helps healthcare organizations collect and organize key information that will be needed during performance audits.
A CMMS can also help with standardizing all the information regarding your processes and procedures to ensure that everything is always working properly and according to important guidelines.
For example, you can attach instructions from OEM manuals and other sources in the form of notes, images, and videos in the software to form the basis of your standard operating procedures (SOPs). By managing SOPs through a CMMS, all users can view the most updated versions at any time. This way, everyone has access to information that will enable them to use any equipment correctly and safely.
Cross-Department Collaboration
A CMMS allows employees from different sectors of the healthcare organization to work with each other to carry out maintenance and facilities operations. This includes members from engineering, HR, legal, nursing, and finance departments – as well as third-party vendors, consultants and technicians – to collaborate with each other in real-time.
This ability to effectively and instantly communicate with employees across different divisions, locations and even time zones in the healthcare industry minimizes error and increases productivity for work order and asset management, preventative maintenance, compliance, inventory management and more.
Minimization of Service Disruption
Equipment failure can often be devastating in a healthcare facility. Using a CMMS software combined with a proactive maintenance strategy is an optimal system for preventing such situations.
In fact, considering that healthcare centers work on a 24/7 schedule, a proactive maintenance strategy is indispensable. Proactive maintenance also allows you to utilize assets at optimum capacity yet preserve and extend their lifespan.
Summary: How Can Axxerion CMMS Help Your Healthcare Organization?
In addition to the providing all of the features discussed above, Axxerion CMMS comes with many more capabilities to help your healthcare organization manage areas such as security, procurement, cost control, energy management, space management and more.
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Contact the Axxerion team, schedule a free demo, and let us help you address your healthcare maintenance management concerns today.
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