Simply put, staying proactive is the key to understanding the usable lifetime of medical technology, according to an article on Medical Dealer’s website.
For example, when TriMedX, an aftermarket medical equipment provider, notices the end of life might be nearing for any particular technology, the company performs some calculations to determine how much longer it should stay in use.
“How many units do we have, and how are we going to help our customers leverage that, and which of our customers are in a place to get a replacement and which ones are not,” TriMedX Senior Vice President Dale Hockel tells Medical Dealer.
Service companies need to provide ongoing information to their customer base regarding equipment and usage. This can help hospitals that are putting budgets together plan how much they’ll spend on parts and/or equipment replacement.
Hospitals should have a service management system so they can pool project management and repair data across their customer equipment population. This way, they can share the data in a form that customers can understand to be able to plan for the future.
“It gives the hospital the opportunity to buy parts,” Hockel says, “especially if you know you’re not going to have the capital dollars to replace that piece of equipment in the next 12-24 months.”
Source: Medical Dealer, October 2012