Biomed 101: The Role of Biomeds in Capital Planning Investments

In less than a decade, the number of assets per bed in hospitals has increased by about 70 percent. This means biomedical engineers are responsible for tracking, maintaining and managing more assets now than ever before, presenting both a management and budgetary challenge for hospitals. As hospitals are charged with acquiring and servicing this growing volume of assets, biomeds have a unique opportunity to employ their deep knowledge of existing devices’ state of repair and utilization to help guide and inform the C-suite on capital purchase and upgrade decisions. Through collecting and analyzing equipment life cycle, service event and utilization data, biomeds offer executives a valuable window into how efficiently existing equipment is being used, and how to shift investment priorities to best serve patients and the health system’s business goals. The following are ways in which biomedical engineers and departments can offer guidance and value for hospital executives to help them make smarter decisions when it comes to capital planning and investments.

Understand What You’ve Got

With the number of assets in a hospital constantly on the rise, hospital executives rely on those who are closest to those assets when attempting to determine where investments need to be made. Of all the assets a biomed will service, 90 percent of them are mobile and only 10 percent are fixed. It is often hard to keep track of mobile equipment as it is always on the move and can be hard to manage. Thus, it is imperative that biomeds know and understand all of the inventory and assets in a hospital. While the task may seem daunting, biomeds should take a physical inventory of each asset that passes through the halls of the hospital every day. During the inventory process, biomeds can take note of asset life cycle and condition in order to aid in long-term capital planning decisions for executives. Cataloguing such assets and gathering life cycle information will not only help a biomed perform maintenance in a more organized manner, but it will also help executives and the C-suite better understand which assets are being underused or overused, how many assets exist within the hospital and which assets will need to be replaced in the near future.

Only Replace What You Need

Replacing equipment, mobile or fixed, is often a costly endeavor. Typically when a hospital replaces a piece of equipment, they do so on a 1:1 basis – they look at which pieces of equipment need to be replaced and when, and then replace them without looking at what is actually being used and replacing assets accordingly. By only replacing a certain amount of equipment, hospitals save immensely on operating and capital costs. Thus, executives rely on their biomeds to give them accurate information regarding utilization of assets so that they do not end up overspending on unnecessary equipment, leading to too many assets. Having an overload of equipment leads to a bloated inventory, which can hurt a hospital financially when it comes to operating costs.

Redeploying an asset is almost always less expensive than buying a new one. For example, if a small hospital is in need of a new MR system – a significant investment – rather than purchasing a new one, hospital managers can look and see if a larger institution in their health system has an underutilized MR system. Could they, by increasing the efficient use of other MR systems in that facility, do without that specific unit? If so, the larger hospital’s MR system could be transferred to the smaller hospital at a fraction of the cost of an entirely new unit.

Invest in Technology

In order to make such informed decisions a hospital system may consider an upfront investment in technologies that will allow biomeds to better track assets and inventory as they bounce from patient to patient and receive maintenance and service. Oftentimes, there are 50 percent more IV pumps than needed – the pumps are simply not following any prescribed journey through the hospital, are being left in places where they remain out of use for long periods of time, or are not being used to their full and efficient potential. Simple RFID tags make asset tracking easy, allowing hospitals to have a better grasp of what their inventory looks like and where they may need to cut back or increase investment in certain pieces of equipment. In addition, using RFID technologies to tag mobile assets, such as IV pumps, can immensely decrease the amount of time spent trying to locate a device. A healthcare provider or technician can simply pull up information on an asset and go directly to that location, cutting out unnecessary time spent searching the hospital for that device. RFID systems are beneficial because they help biomeds better understand their inventory of devices, which in turn can stop hospital executives from buying excessive equipment.

In addition to replacing equipment, biomeds are crucial when it comes to helping executives decide whether or not to redeploy equipment and assets rather than purchasing new ones. Real-time knowledge on equipment location can help health systems to leverage resources throughout their system to ensure that hospitals have the right equipment in cost-effective ways that support clinical excellence. As biomedical departments know all too well, finding a specific piece of equipment can be a frustrating search process.

Make Informed Decisions

Within a hospital environment, C-suite executives are always trying to make the best decisions for their organizations, while also keeping cost and patient care in mind. Without the help and extensive knowledge of biomedical engineers, it would be nearly impossible for executives to make accurate, informed decisions when it comes to their inventory and overall asset management. Biomeds are able to offer guidance and value for hospital executives when it comes to making smarter decisions in terms of capital planning and investments thanks to their critical and expansive knowledge of a hospital’s asset inventory.

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