Roundtable: CMMS Software

TechNation reached out to industry leaders for their insights regarding CMMS, how it can help clinical engineering departments and what to expect in the future. The panel for this roundtable includes: Greg Doherty, Executive Director of Clinical Asset Management for UnityPoint Health; Phil Englert, BA, National Director Technology Operations, Clinical Engineering for Catholic Health Initiatives; Alan Gresch, Vice President of Client Success at Mainspring Healthcare Solutions; Dale Hockel, Senior Vice President, Operations for TriMedx; Bhaskar Iduri, Manager, Clinical Engineering & QA for Renovo Solutions LLC; Robert Maliff, Director, Applied Solutions Group, ECRI Institute; and Eric Sacks, Director, Healthcare Product Alerts, Health Devices Alerts, ECRI Institute.

Q: What should HTM professionals look for when purchasing CMMS software?

Doherty: Aside from a system that meets the existing business needs it is important to have flexibility, integration with IT and ERP systems, and growth capability that aligns with the organization’s strategic goals and regulatory agency compliance.

Englert: There are so many important features in current CMMS. When considering the features of a CMMS, the organization should first look for features that can be linked to meeting the strategic goals of the organization. If a strategic goal is to improve the patient experience, look for features that can be linked to equipment availability and reliability. If a strategic goal is to reduce expenses, look for features that identify how resources are expended. Look for the system that fits the way your group does business without a lot of work-arounds. The CMMS should accommodate your organization’s business processes with ease and grace rather than require a shoehorn.

Gresch: Scalability and the ability to support where the department is going to be 10 years down the road, as it may be that long before you look at replacing the system again. As Gretzky cited, “Skate to where the puck is going to be.” Great HTM departments need to think beyond just the PM/break-fix function (any CMMS can do that) and determine what other ways they can bring value to their organization. Can their CMMS help take them to that next level? Can they provide mechanisms to reduce expenses, increase staff efficiencies, and improve customer service like parts management, dispatch functions and customer surveying capability? Does it have an extremely robust reporting tool to create good management dashboards, provide for internal and external benchmarking, and support optimum compliance with TJC and CMS regulations? Does it have auditing capabilities to insure ongoing data integrity? With all the hospital consolidation and acquisitions, can it support a true enterprise application?

Hockel: CMMS should provide regulatory readiness and expertise to ensure compliance with all regulatory agencies. It should track all medical device performance records, preventive maintenance schedules, safety issues, equipment recalls and manufacturer recommendations to ensure the highest level of patient safety related to potential device malfunctions and lowest level of risk related to compliance.

Iduri: It has to be a web-based application. It should be user friendly (easy to operate and train). The response time should be instantaneous when accessing the information. It should have the ability to customize reports. It should be flexible to be customized to meet future demands and standards.

Maliff: Flexibility with reporting – how easy is it to create customized reports and how easy is it to establish a dashboard of metrics? Also, how might it integrate with financial/materials management systems like the hospital asset database, service contract database and C-level dashboards? Look for demonstrated/proven installation sites.