How Can You Reduce Costs With Your Medical Equipment?

Are those equipment bills adding up? First, it’s a service bill for your MRI then another for your C-Arm, and don’t forget the bills for the parts needed to service them. On the other hand, maybe you’ve lost an IV pump and are forced to purchase a new one. Regardless of the specifics, reducing these and other medical equipment costs is always a priority, but can be a slippery slope when trying to navigate how. Fear no longer as we’ve put together a list of tips that you can follow to reduce your costs with your medical equipment.

Evaluate your equipment utilization

The first thing to look at here is the utilization rate of your medical equipment. Do you have any underutilized or idle equipment? If the answer is yes, you must consider whether it is necessary to keep them. The key is optimizing your equipment usage, so you can reduce your maintenance costs and avoid purchasing unnecessary equipment.

Explore equipment sharing or leasing options

Sharing is caring and cost reducing. If there is another healthcare facility nearby, consider collaborating with them to share equipment when it is not in use. Alternatively, you can look to optimize the balance between purchasing, leasing, and renting to find the best value for your equipment, particularly for specialized or infrequently used equipment.

Conduct regular maintenance and calibration

Keeping equipment in optimal condition is crucial to keeping uptime and utilization rates high, thus reducing costs. Being proactive on equipment maintenance is the solution. This means conducting regular inspections, calibrations, and preventive maintenance to avoid costly breakdowns or repairs. With InterMed, we take care of all of this, so you don’t have to and you still reduce your costs.

Consider refurbished or remanufactured equipment

Is new equipment too expensive? Don’t break the bank when refurbished or remanufactured equipment is a cost-effective alternative and a step you can take before taking the plunge of purchasing new equipment. Ensuring the vendor of the equipment is reputable, like InterMed, and the equipment meets the necessary standards is crucial in this strategy.

Implement asset management and tracking systems

Tracking and managing each piece of equipment – their location, maintenance status, etcetera, is the backbone of reducing costs for moveable equipment. It prevents loss of equipment, reduces the need of replacement, ensures efficient allocation of resources, and gives you a one stop shop for all maintenance in lieu of dealing with multiple OEMs and vendors. We, InterMed, have done this successfully for our clients repeatedly and have shown proven cost reductions as a result. Check out our case study to see how we do it.

Train staff in proper equipment usage

Having an educated and trained staff on how to correctly use and handle the various pieces of equipment is vital. If the staff understand the equipment, then it lowers the risk of misuse or damage which decreases the need for repairs or, worst case, premature replacement.

Now that the path is laid, it's time to use it! Apply these tips to your system and see your costs reduced over time. Here’s your first baby step – do a data analysis to understand your utilization, uptime, and current costs. From there, formulate a plan to implement one of the tips. Reducing your costs is important to not only save money, but to be able to put those resources elsewhere to improve overall patient care, so what are you waiting for?

Need a helping hand to reduce your costs? Use us as your HTM (Healthcare Technology Management) provider and see the number drop! Get in touch with us today and start your journey to a more efficient medical equipment program.