TidalHealth HTM Case Study
Comprehensive & tailored healthcare technology management solution ensures long-term benefits for TidalHealth.
TidalHealth, located in the region of southern Delaware and The Eastern Shore of Maryland, houses over 10,400 medical devices dispersed across 148 departments. These departments form TidalHealth’s large system consisting of a 283-bed hospital in Salisbury, MD and a 139-bed hospital in Seaford, DE in addition to various clinics, urgent care centers, and more. With such an expansive system, there are going to be challenges. TidalHealth was faced with two main needs: first, to consolidate their medical device costs to one HTM program and second, to improve system efficiency. Reaching these goals required developing a program specifically tailored to TidalHealth. This included aiding in the integration of the former Nanticoke Memorial Hospital to their system, inventorying all devices, implementing a tracking system, and building a team, among other initiatives.
Challenge
As a system of 2 hospitals and 50 clinics and medical centers spread across the southern Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland regions, TidalHealth owns thousands of pieces of medical equipment totaling 10,400 medical devices dispersed across multiple buildings and 148 departments. Hospital leadership was seeking to
- Maintain a more global and all encompassing medical device database.
- Track the total cost of medical equipment service/contracts.
- Track the total service coverage of medical equipment.
These goals led the system to work with InterMed over the years, utilizing their expertise and diligence, to jointly develop solutions to further improve the departments scope and efficiency measures with reduced costs and greater device uptime. TidalHealth and the department worked toward:
- Consolidation of all medical equipment and their maintenance into one HTM program.
- Reduced costs and adding value.
- Provision of trained and skilled site-based technicians to reduce response time to 20 minutes or less.
Solution
Through a tailored step-by-step process and communication from both sides, the team successfully solved TidalHealth’s medical device challenges, positioning them for success moving forward.
Inventory
Before consolidating the medical device costs into one department, it was crucial to understand the total cost of their medical equipment and total service cover age. The InterMed team gathered the cost information associated with each medical device and matched it with the known inventory of the devices. This process provided a thorough database of the correlation between equipment and cost.
Prior to the adoption of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking system, also referred to as a Real-Time Location System (RTLS), TidalHealth faced difficulties in locating misplaced infusion pumps and other mobile medical devices. This challenge prompted a costly request for 775 new pumps. However, after the implementation of the RTLS, the demand for additional pumps significantly decreased, resulting in savings exceeding $250,000.
Furthermore, apart from monitoring the whereabouts of medical devices, the RTLS system is utilized to track their maintenance and servicing requirements. This functionality enhances the efficiency of technicians and clinicians.
TidalHealth’s RTLS system has also contributed to cost savings by introducing a smart drug inventory system. This system keeps tabs on expiration dates and sends alerts to healthcare personnel when drugs are nearing expiration or are out of stock. Consequently, this has reduced unnecessary drug orders and minimized instances of stock outs.
Communication
Upon completing the cost analysis, the team met with TidalHealth to review the results. The total cost was analyzed along with the entire list of the inventory. This analyses uncovered some cost challenges with infusion pumps, allowing the system to save by purchasing less, effectively solving the inflated demand in infusion pumps.
Training
To complete TidalHealth’s goals, a multidisciplinary department was born that consisted of biomedical and imaging technicians, who were actively cross-trained in both specializations. By doing so, the system’s reliance on OEM’s decreased, total cost decreased, and the goal of achieving 20 minutes or less response time was reached.
Continuous QBRs
As part of the long-term partnership between TidalHealth and InterMed, they collectively undergo Quarterly Business Review meetings. This allows the team and InterMed the opportunity to share with TidalHealth leadership their progress on existing goals, establishing new goals, and creation of 1-5 year plans for equipment and equipment needs – InterMed’s offering of Technology Planning Solutions (TPS).
Benefits
“The InterMed team is key to the department’s overall success. They have consolidated equipment, reduced costs, managed budgets effectively and extended equipment lifecycles through improved management and service”
- TidalHealth Vice President
- Reduce overall budget for the hospital – Infusion pumps alone saved over $250,000.
- Consistently improved user department satisfaction from 4.8 to 4.9 over multiple years.
- Reduced reliance on OEM service contracts have Improved equipment up-time and reduced costs.
- Response time for equipment requests 20 minutes or under on average.
- Engaged service technicians under InterMed’s leadership.
- Shortened response time for Imaging devices due to ability of highly skilled technicians.
About InterMed
The InterMed Group is a specialized provider of healthcare technology management services. Our decades of health care industry experience and breadth of services enable
us to create efficiencies that save you time and money, enhance your services, and position you for growth. Our standard of service is what defines us and motives us to bring the best to our clients; we maintain an ISO 13485 certified Quality Management System to adhere to the highest standards set forth in our industry.
“We always bring the best”
About TidalHealth
In 2020, nearly 5,000 healthcare providers from across the region united under one name in celebration of a shared mission: to improve the health of the community.
Better Together.
TidalHealth -- which includes TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, TidalHealth Nanticoke, TidalHealth McCready Pavilion, and an expansive physician network with 32 locations, more than 275 providers in nearly 30 different specialties -- have joined forces to offer the best in patient-centered care. We provide a full range of services, including neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, joint replacement, emergency/trauma care, comprehensive can- cer care, women’s and children’s services, wound care and clinical trials and research as a member of the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network.
Quality is our constant, special is our signature and community is our core.
By combining knowledge and sharing evidence-based protocols, TidalHealth is able to offer the best healthcare on Delmarva. Primary care physicians and specialists are collaborating every day to personalize the patient experience, and new technologies and treatment options continue to define the standard for safer care, faster recoveries and better outcomes.
Through TidalHealth’s primary care and specialty care offices across Delmarva, health campuses in Maryland and Delaware, FamilyLabs and pharmacies and our Wagner Wellness Van, we are making it more convenient than ever for patients to get the care they need and when and where it’s needed.
With its legacy of firsts and proven accomplishments since 1897 — and its ability to extend care above and be- yond its walls — TidalHealth is in a position to offer the best care in our region.