By Alyx Arnett

Aquant, an artificial intelligence (AI) company for service professionals, released its 2025 Medical Device Service Benchmark Report, which analyzed nearly 9 million service events across the medical device industry—and the results point to a clear divide between top- and bottom-performing service teams.

Top performers are seeing lower costs, faster resolution times, and longer intervals between service visits. Their advantage? A shift away from reactive service models in favor of earlier intervention, better-equipped technicians, and targeted support strategies. The report highlights AI as a critical enabler, while also showing that operational strategies—like earlier intervention and technician support—are key to delivering measurable improvements.

Key findings from the report include:

1. First Time Fix Rate: Top organizations resolve over 80% of service issues on the first visit. Bottom performers average between 51% and 65%, depending on the segment.
2. Time Between Service Visits: Leading teams extend this metric to 149 days, while bottom-tier organizations average just 29 days—indicating stronger maintenance execution.
3. PM Effectiveness: Nearly 1 in 4 preventative maintenance visits at low-performing companies result in a follow-up within three months, highlighting missed issues or incomplete servicing.
4. Repeat Parts Replacement: High rates of “parts shotgunning”—or repeat parts replacements—continue to inflate costs and increase downtime, especially among teams without access to equipment-specific insights.

AI and the Shift Left Strategy

To overcome persistent service challenges—such as repeat part replacements, ineffective preventative maintenance, and widening gaps in technician expertise—many medical device organizations are adopting smarter, more proactive approaches, according to the report. 

Rather than relying solely on reactive break-fix models, leading teams are emphasizing earlier intervention and better technician support throughout the service journey.

One strategy gaining traction is Shift Left, which focuses on addressing issues earlier—before they escalate into larger problems. This includes enabling frontline staff with self-service tools, offering remote diagnostic support, or equipping technicians with the right training and information upfront. These efforts help reduce unnecessary dispatches, minimize downtime, and prevent avoidable escalations, according to the report.

AI is also helping service teams operate more efficiently. AI-powered platforms provide technicians with real-time access to equipment histories, repair trends, and service manuals—supporting faster, more accurate troubleshooting. In addition to improving preventative maintenance, AI can reduce parts waste by guiding technicians to the correct fix, helping to avoid costly “parts shotgunning,” the report finds. 

Organizations leveraging AI report:

• 39% faster resolution times
• 121% higher troubleshooting accuracy
• Up to $1.1 million in annual savings from modest increases in remote resolutions

Together—but not exclusively—Shift Left and AI are helping medical device service teams improve first-time fix rates, reduce repeat service visits, and bridge the widening gap between increasingly complex equipment and uneven technician experience, according to Aquant’s report.

ID 240245214 © Andrey Sayfutdinov | Dreamstime.com

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Key Takeaways

• Clear Compliance Requirements: ANSI/AAMI EQ103:2024 establishes minimum requirements for AEM programs, providing clarity and resolving compliance debates between healthcare organizations and regulatory bodies.
• Comprehensive Guidance: The standard includes detailed guidance on preventive, predictive, and reactive maintenance, performance metrics, and CMS Conditions of Participation to enhance safety and reliability in medical device management.
• Ease of Adoption: EQ103 was designed for consistency with existing requirements from CMS, The Joint Commission, and other AAMI standards, making it user-friendly and straightforward for healthcare organizations to implement.

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Alternate equipment management (AEM) plans for medical devices often create tension between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the organizations responsible for purchasing and maintaining these devices.

To address this, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has released a new industry standard: ANSI/AAMI EQ103:2024; Alternate equipment management (AEM) program in healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs). This standard resolves long-standing debates over compliance by clearly defining the minimum requirements for an AEM program.

Clear AEM Compliance Standards

Since the 2014 CMS Survey & Certification Group letter permitting certain AEM activities, accrediting bodies and healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals have grappled with how to align their practices. With EQ103, HTM service providers and healthcare delivery organizations can confidently ensure their programs meet safety and regulatory standards.

The standard offers comprehensive guidance for healthcare delivery organizations aiming to meet CMS Conditions of Participation. Key components include:

• Minimum requirements for an AEM program.
• Development and implementation of preventive, predictive, and reactive maintenance.
• Program performance metrics, including quality, safety, reliability, and care availability.
• Reference materials, such as CMS’s State Operations Manual.

Inside EQ103

AAMI’s AEM Working Group, led by co-chairs Maggie Berkey, biomedical equipment specialist at Bio-Electronics, and Colleen Haugen-Ortiz, HTM quality specialist at GE HealthCare, developed EQ103. Berkey emphasized that the standard equips HTM professionals to fully meet accrediting body requirements.

Haugen-Ortiz highlights that EQ103 was designed for consistency and ease of use, explaining that the working group ensured alignment with existing requirements from CMS, The Joint Commission, and other AAMI standards like EQ56 and EQ89.

The new standard is expected to be an invaluable resource for HTM professionals and their organizations in delivering safe, high-quality patient care. Additionally, AAMI plans to release a technical information report on AEM implementation to provide further practical guidance.

In this 24×7 exclusive, Sable shares tried-and-true strategies for survey preparedness and how to use CMMS technologies to manage regulations and improve survey outcomes.

24×7: To start, Which organizations typically survey a hospital?

Rich Sable: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved several organizations for evaluating healthcare facilities for accreditation by CMS. The State Survey Agencies perform the Medicare certification process and inspect hospitals to ensure compliance with the terms of the CoPs, or Conditions of Participation. Additionally, hospitals may elect to obtain accreditation from a private, CMS-approved accrediting organization such as The Joint Commission, DNV GL Healthcare, Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), or Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ), in lieu of seeking certification from the State Survey Agencies. 

The CMS uses State Survey Agencies to act on behalf of CMS to perform the Medicare certification process, and the CMS uses the State Survey Agencies to perform validation inspections on some hospitals that were previously surveyed by an accrediting organization.

24×7: What benefits does a hospital receive when it maintains accreditation as the result of a survey?

Sable: The primary focus of the survey is to protect patients and staff, so one benefit is knowing that the organization provides a safe and secure environment with safe medical equipment. Other benefits include national recognition, including by insurance companies and other third parties; demonstrating your commitment to excellence in quality, accountability, and patient safety; providing a competitive advantage; improving risk management and risk reduction; providing standardization and consistency for processes across the organization; possibly reducing liability insurance costs; and assuring the organization is current with the healthcare regulations, which may improve customer satisfaction ratings. Additional benefits are that consumers may look for it when choosing hospital services, and many practitioners look for it when choosing an employer.

24×7: What are the different ways that hospital HTM teams can prepare for a future survey?

Sable: The best way to prepare for a survey is to always be prepared for a survey because it provides peace of mind, and you can’t go back in time to correct deficiencies. It’s a good idea to obtain the survey preparation guide for your surveying agency so you fully understand the necessary information being reviewed during the survey. 

For some organizations, you may have a regulatory compliance officer on staff that receives regular updates from your surveying agency, and the compliance officer may hold staff meetings to review updates to each hospital team: HTM, facilities, nursing, etc. Another method is to attend survey preparation meetings at various annual conferences or local HTM meetings, especially if the presenter is from an accrediting organization.

It’s beneficial to conduct annual department policy reviews and to regularly update your medical equipment management plan. Also, ensure that your staff is familiar with the whereabouts of the department policies. This knowledge is crucial as it equips the staff to efficiently locate information that may be required when responding to questions from surveyors. Other ways are to conduct mock surveys—in-house or contracted— pop quizzes during your staff meetings, or department sweeps (scheduled checks).

24×7: How can the HTM team’s CMMS help them to prepare for a future survey?

Sable: The CMMS provides an easy way to review preventive maintenance work orders, especially if it contains dashboards that provide live data updates as work is being completed. HTM managers can review work orders to make sure they are coded properly, especially the “device-in-use” and “unable-to-locate” work orders, since CMS/JC/DNV provide compliance on these work order types if the preventive maintenance was attempted in the month due.

HTM managers can document their staff meetings as work orders in the CMMS for quick retrieval and can create scheduled work orders to review and update their policies and procedures. The CMMS enables HTM managers to monitor work-order completion through dashboards and generate regulatory compliance reports for the environment of care committee and surveyor use.

Similarly, the equipment types (device types) should be categorized as high-risk and non-high-risk based on the criteria identified in your medical equipment management plan. Also, equipment types that are going to be eligible for an alternative equipment maintenance/management) program should be identified based on your department policies. 

With these assets categorized, the HTM manager can quickly provide reports on high-risk equipment or equipment that is on your AEM program or a combination of the two. In fact, EQ2’s HEMS One provides a one-click report to retrieve devices on AEM or original equipment manufacturer-recommended maintenance, and these reports can be given to surveyors on-demand or saved in your medical equipment management plan for future reference.

24×7: How important is data standardization for day-to-day survey readiness?

Sable: Standardizing data is crucial for effectively managing regulatory compliance and an AEM program within your CMMS. Specifically, the device types must be standardized to ensure that the PM procedures, risk scores, and device recalls are successfully accomplished. For example, if two similar device types are named differently in the CMMS, you may miss one group or the other during comparison for equipment replacement or when moving device types onto an AEM program.

Furthermore, your CMMS may contain specialized reports or dashboards that rely on certain data fields to stratify your equipment inventory into the correct category. In HEMS One, the system field is used to identify devices that are prohibited by CMS/JC/DNV to be placed onto your AEM program, and this is identified visually in the AEM dashboard.

Also, your PM procedures may be applied differently if the data is not standardized which can impact your regulatory compliance for these device types. Finally, the HEMS One “Best Practice” module prevents users from editing this information after being approved by the HTM Manager, which ensures that data standardization is maintained on all approved devices.

FSI’s cloud-based computerized maintenance management software, CMS, helps teams operate efficiently. The software empowers teams to create safe healthcare environments and operations.

Created in collaboration with Joint Commission Inspectors, FSI is the first to launch eBinders, a mobile-friendly “electronic binder” that ensures healthcare organizations are always prepared for compliance surveys from The Joint Commission, DNV, and other local jurisdictions. FSI’s eBinders helps hospitals organize and keep track of compliance reports and dashboards from one location within their CMMS, eliminating the need for physical binders, reducing errors through standardized naming conventions, and creating automatic reports that generate on a regular basis.

Administrators can pull up any relevant documents using a user-friendly search function at any time, whether they’re preparing for an inspection or talking to an inspector. Simple to use, eBinders saves users time on reviews, cuts down on errors, and provides the ability to eliminate physical binders.

The efficiency eBinders offers helps users to physically run fewer reports and spend less time organizing binders. This allows teams to focus on getting inspection ready and staying compliant 100% of the time. Users can search documents on-demand and easily filter by date, PM types, custom attributes, location, status, compliance indicators, and more.

“We are thrilled to be a 2023 MedTech Breakthrough award winner. We know that good data is at the heart of compliance. The ability to run automatic reports, eliminate the use of physical binders, and cut down on errors allows hospitals that utilize eBinders to stay 100% compliant and meet regulatory requirements,” says Zachary Seely, CEO of FSI. “With over 80% of U.S. hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission, eBinders has been developed specifically to meet TJC inspections. The product redefines compliance preparation with the emphasis on ITM—all to empower more efficient, impactful maintenance programs at healthcare organizations.”

The mission of the MedTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the innovation, hard work, and success in a range of health and medical technology categories, including Telehealth, Clinical Administration, Patient Engagement, Electronic Health Records (EHR), Virtual Care, Medical Devices, Medical Data, and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 4,000 nominations from over 17 different countries throughout the world. 

“Compliance preparation is a priority for healthcare service professionals nationwide. With staffing shortages and labor challenges across the industry, violations, safety issues, and inefficient processes can hurt an organization’s bottom line. If a hospital fails an inspection, it’s expensive, it negatively impacts teams, and can lead to closures that impact patient care. Data piles up in paper reports that are stuffed in binders which pile up year after year,” says James Johnson, managing director, MedTech Breakthrough. “Data accuracy allows hospitals to prepare for inspections in less than half the time when using eBinders. FSI’s eBinders feature is a breakthrough in the industry as it helps with saving time and money—which is paramount with the challenges the healthcare industry faces around staffing and resources. Congratulations to FSI on being our pick for the ‘Compliance Management Innovation Award.’”

Current requirements for Joint Commission-accredited organizations will not change. The intent behind the standard and associated elements of performance will remain the same; however, they will now be stated as NPSG Goal 16. The purpose of NPSGs is to improve patient safety—focusing on significant problems in healthcare and specific actions to prevent and solve them.

Accredited healthcare organizations will still be required to:

• Identify an individual to lead activities to improve healthcare equity.
• Assess patients’ health-related social needs.
• Analyze quality and safety data to identify disparities. 
• Develop an action plan to improve healthcare equity. 
• Act when the organization does not meet the goals in its action plan. 
• Inform key stakeholders about progress to improve healthcare equity.

“The new National Patient Safety Goal will help increase the focus on improving health care equity, a global patient safety priority,” says Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, MACP, FACMI, president and chief executive officer, The Joint Commission. “Everyone needs a chance for safe, equitable and meaningful care. As such, equity must be the foundation for safety and quality in health care. By elevating the existing standard to a National Patient Safety Goal, we are emphasizing the importance for health care organizations to ensure oversight and accountability for health care equity.”

Following the implementation of NPSG Goal 16, Standard LD.04.03.08 will be deleted.

Information on the research used to develop the requirements, including rationales and references, are available in R³ Report, Issue 38: National Patient Safety Goal to Improve Health Care Equity. Additionally, the new NPSG is posted on The Joint Commission’s Prepublication Standards page until July 1. 

If healthcare facilities don’t follow patient safety rules set by The Joint Commission—the independent organization responsible for accrediting health care facilities—they may lose their accreditation, and consequently, lose patients and millions of dollars every year in funding. But what if those rules aren’t supported by evidence? 

The new study showed only six of 20 rules that were issued during a one-year period were directly supported by references cited by TJC, six were partly supported, and eight were not supported at all. 

This paper is among the first to show that TJC may issue rules or standards for hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities that are not backed by evidence showing these are necessary or important for patient safety or health. 

While this study only reviewed new rules during a one-year period, the implication is that many rules issued in the past may similarly not be supported by published evidence, the study authors said.      

The study was published in the British Medical Journal.

Why Does It Matter? 

“Following the rules or standards set by TJC can be expensive and use hospital resources and staff time,” says lead study author Murad Alam, MD, vice chair and professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “In fact, we started this study because we were approached by colleagues frustrated by TJC rules. As an example, TJC requires hospitals to discard drugs past their printed expiration dates, which results in billions wasted every year, even though the FDA’s own Self Life Extension Program has shown that most of the drugs tested were perfectly safe and effective for many years longer.

“Because TJC rules are so influential and impactful, it is important that these rules really improve patient care and safety. Our finding is concerning because unhelpful rules can waste money in the health care system and take attention from more important activities. “

A common way to justify a rule is to show that evidence, including previous medical studies, improve the quality or safety of care. TJC, when issuing new standards and rules, often lists citations, or the names of medical articles it believes show the value of these rules, Alam says.  

However, when the study authors went back to read these articles listed in support of the new rules, they found, in many cases, the articles provided little to no convincing information that the particular standards or rules being recommended by TJC would improve safety or quality of care. 

TJC Rules Impact Patients and Medical Professionals

Potentially hundreds of millions of patients and millions of hospital employees and staff are affected by TJC rules and standards since the vast majority of U.S. hospitals are accredited by the Joint Commission. 

“We all pay the cost, in terms of insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health expenses, to ensure that hospitals are safe and high quality, with some of this going to make sure that TJC standards are followed,” Alam says. “Given that money for health care is limited, we want to make sure that our dollars are being used to truly ensure safety and quality and not just to do busy work that sounds important but doesn’t really make a difference in how patients fare.”  

When TJC standards are not supported by evidence, if TJC still believes these are important, they should provide patients, doctors, and administrators with other reasons why these standards should be implemented, he said.

“In medicine, evidence is often the basis of what we do or don’t do, and doctors, researchers and regulators are expected to be transparent in sharing the evidence that influences their behavior,” Alam says.   

Alam stressed the paper is not critical of TJC’s mission, motives, or importance.   

“TJC standards are important and often extremely helpful in making health care very safe and in reducing medical errors,” Alam says. “We must give a great deal of credit to TJC for being at the forefront of protecting patients in the U.S. We also admire TJC for constantly striving to improve health care safety and quality by considering new standards that may further reduce medical errors. This is an outstanding organization, which we are fortunate to have.” 

The authors suggest:

• To ensure TJC’s standards are supported either by evidence or by some other convincing justification.   
• In cases in which TJC has evidence that is not publicly available that supports standards, it should be more transparent in sharing this evidence with the general public. 
• If TJC believes it is important to implement some standards without much supporting evidence, it should clearly explain why.
• TJC should consider sunsetting standards (or preventing their initial implementation) when evidence or other strong justifications are not available for certain standards. Some less evidence-supported standards could be voluntary. The associated savings and freed-up resources could be redirected to purposes that are known to benefit patients.

The article is titled: “The evidence base for US joint commission hospital accreditation standards: cross sectional study.” This study was funded by Feinberg’s department of dermatology, section of cutaneous surgery.

Arvizio AR Instructor is a powerful solution leveraging augmented reality to visually guide and upskill workers through complex task-oriented workflows with digital overlays of associated 3D objects, images, documentation, and animated mark-ups.

Further, AR Instructor can connect the frontline medical staff with a remote expert who sees what the on-site worker sees and provides real-time guidance and augmented reality annotations for problem resolution and/or work validation.

The proficiency of medical personnel and other healthcare professionals is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care where errors can have significant consequences.

Using AR Instructor, medical personnel and technicians can independently train in the set-up, operation, and maintenance of medical equipment guided by overlayed instructions and augmented with 3D digital twins, videos, documentation, and mark-ups to significantly reduce the risk of human error. Additional assistance is available by connecting with a remote expert who can provide real-time guidance and validate task performance of the augmented reality platform.

Arvizio’s AR Instructor increases the availability and efficiency of medical training, without the need to increase staff, and enhances performance and productivity while operational maintenance and repair activities are executed with greater accuracy.

“Advances in medical equipment and procedures has increased the demand for skilled healthcare professionals and technicians,” says Jonathan Reeves, CEO of Arvizio. “With AR Instructor we provide a seamless digital workflow to rapidly upskill current and prospective medical professionals. The ability to combine 3D models, interactive annotations with on-demand remote expert collaboration provides a state-of-the-art solution for medical technology training and maintenance.”

The emergence of 5G networks further enables the successful implementation of AR Instructor training in the healthcare field. The flexible bandwidth allocation and ultra-low latency provides rapid loading of 3D content and media assets and ubiquitous connectivity. Arvizio’s AR instructor was recently featured at the Lake Nona Innovation Hub in conjunction with Verizon utilizing their 5G technology.

For additional information about AR Instructor, please visit arvizio.io

Featured image: Augmented reality guidance and training for medical professionals with Arvizio’s AR Instructor. Photo: Group/Arvizio Inc.

Through Joint Commission accreditation and certification, Traditions Health will bolster its commitment to patient safety and quality improvement at its 100 branches of home health and hospice locations across 17 states.

The Joint Commission surveys healthcare organizations for compliance with its performance standards during a rigorous, unannounced onsite visit. During the visit, a team of Joint Commission surveyors will evaluate Traditions Health’s compliance with home care and hospice standards spanning several areas including environment of care, equipment management, infection prevention and control, medication management and more.  “Traditions Health is committed to providing the highest quality of care to every patient we serve. To demonstrate our commitment to clinical standards and excellence, we have chosen to become Joint Commission accredited starting with the corporate office and for all branches,” says David Klementz, chief executive officer of Traditions Health. 

Joint Commission standards are developed in consultation with healthcare experts and providers, measurement experts and patients. They are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help healthcare organizations measure, assess, and improve performance. During the visit, surveyors also conduct onsite observations and interviews. 

“The Joint Commission looks forward to working with Traditions Health to help its locations achieve and sustain standardized performance excellence. As more patients are seeking home health services, it is important that they receive safe and quality care. Accreditation is one way to help ensure that these organizations have the processes and policies in place to do so,” says Brian Enochs, JD, executive vice president, Business Development and Marketing, The Joint Commission.

Hospital leaders face a capital expenditures predicament with their medical devices. On one hand, they obviously need available devices to provide care. On the other hand, budgets are limited. Having too few devices is a problem—but so is having too many. The conflict between a hospital’s budget and its device availability can be solved, however, by better forecasting the lifecycle of medical equipment. Accurate forecasting balances the assurance that you have the right amount of equipment in the right places to provide quality care while keeping in check operational costs and capital expenses. 

A host of factors can make forecasting challenging. But hospitals can employ sophisticated technologies to help them strategically plan ahead and maximize their budgets. A comprehensive clinical asset management solution can support total cost of ownership analysis, extend the useful life of equipment, and drive financial savings. The approach should be data-driven and provide valuable information regarding inventory, downtime, productivity needs, and regulatory issues—all of which help the management team make informed decisions and accurately forecast equipment needs.

The Challenge of Equipment Forecasting 

Forecasting the lifecycle of medical equipment can be complicated and multifaceted. For one thing, visibility to clinical asset inventory can be limited. And purchasing behaviors can be misaligned with clinical needs. Finally, the unique nature of medical device maintenance can make lifespan predictions difficult.

An accurate clinical asset inventory is the first step. You, of course, can’t know what equipment you need without first understanding what you already have. Inventory visibility is also critical to assessing the status of each piece of equipment in your fleet. 

TRIMEDX data, for instance, indicates that health system medical device inventory can vary up to 40% between what administrators think they have and what they actually have on-hand. Furthermore, based on data collected from more than 4.7 million clinical assets, TRIMEDX estimates that most organizations use only 40%-50% of the assets in their inventory on a daily basis.

Assumptions, gaps in workflow processes, and personal preferences within departments prompt hospitals to think they need more equipment than they do. Consider the issues that arise when departments make purchasing decisions in a silo. They might be buying similar equipment from different manufacturers from different vendors, which eliminates cost efficiencies, adds to total cost of ownership, and presents additional challenges to lifecycle planning.

Compounding the inventory uncertainty is how prevalent mobile devices are today. In fact, TRIMEDX data indicates that 85%-90% of a health provider’s clinical assets are mobile, and mobile devices by their nature can be difficult to keep tabs on. Add the additional challenge of how rented medical equipment can cloud inventory visibility, and you see how knowing your actual inventory isn’t so straight-forward. 

The unique nature of how medical devices are maintained also presents difficulties in managing the total lifecycle of equipment. Other than in instances of an FDA recall, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) may not provide or push software updates or patches, though they may be approved and available. As a medical device ages over the years, the likelihood that the OEM will choose to stop supporting it grows as the manufacturer’s focus shifts to supporting new equipment product offerings.

When support ends and a problem arises, a clinical asset management solution can help evaluate whether the issue—for instance, a software vulnerability—can be remediated in some way, whether the problem presents a safety risk, or if the device should be replaced. But if it’s uncertain when the manufacturer support ends, it’s difficult to predict the lifecycle of a device. 

Maximizing ROI with Data

A clinical asset management solution that couples robust inventory management with powerful analytics can help overcome these forecasting challenges. Insight begins with accurate visibility into your entire medical device fleet in real time. A computerized maintenance management system tracks, manages, and reports on all clinical assets. Knowing the devices that a health system actually has helps align equipment needs with patient demand.

A comprehensive solution also goes much further. It can provide real-time data not just on inventory but also on regulatory compliance; historical performance; utilization; cyber vulnerabilities; and total cost of ownership factors such as maintenance, service, parts, failure rate, and downtime. 

Sophisticated algorithms synthesize and analyze the data to provide recommendations on whether a device should be replaced or whether better options exist. For instance:

• A device can be upgraded: A health system can extend equipment life and performance for years after the manufacturer ceases to support a device. 
• A device can be reallocated: With an accurate inventory and a clear understanding of device needs across a health system, a provider can reallocate devices from one hospital to another to better align with demand. 
• A device can be disposed of: Even with disposition of a device, a health system can find value. After all, equipment no longer in use might be in demand in the resale market. A clinical asset management solution can determine fair market value. 

An additional value of a sophisticated solution involves cybersecurity. A technology that detects and remediates threats also is helpful in lifecycle management. A risk assessment that evaluates the medical device profile, device behavior, and the potential impact on patient safety can help drive recommendations on whether to replace, upgrade, or dispose of a device. The relationship a clinical asset management provider establishes with manufacturers also helps to acquire OEM-validated software patches or, when patches are unavailable, application of compensating controls to ensure protection of vulnerable assets. 

Finally, a clinical asset management solution helps maximize the return on investment with each equipment purchase. Remember: Equipment should never be purchased without the data-driven insights such a solution provides.

Elevating Equipment Forecasting 

A comprehensive solution allows a hospital to strategically plan ahead in its medical device lifecycle management, yielding savings in both operational expenditures and capital expenses. With a clear understanding of inventory and better forecasting of need, hospitals can avoid making short-term decisions that hinder long-term goals.

Put simply, health systems are in a better position when buying. One, they know exactly what equipment they need. Two, in buying systemwide rather than department by department, they can consolidate spend, boost buying power, and negotiate better prices. 

The use of a clinical asset management solution also allows a hospital to avoid costly service contracts that are not only unnecessary but may not be aligned with organization-wide goals on equipment purchasing decisions. Service contracts put in place with the OEM at the time of original purchase can come at a high price because they commonly don’t take the internal talent and external resources you already pay for into consideration. This scenario can worsen with multiple departments dealing with multiple manufacturers.

Let’s face it, medical device lifecycle management and forecasting can be complicated endeavors. There can be costly missteps if taken without a clear understanding of device inventory and clinical asset needs. But a third-party clinical asset management provider leveraging a technology solution that works in real time can help a health system better manage its fleet now and also better prepare and spend for its future needs. 

The solution can extend equipment life and performance for years. It can save hospitals money because equipment decisions and staff training are driven by data, not personal perspectives or preferences. It decreases downtime and repair costs. It eliminates waste by aligning the medical device inventory with clinical needs. 

After all, clinical asset management should be one area in which your hospital is consistently saving money, not spending it. That’s why insightful equipment forecasting is key.

Dave Klumpe is president of clinical asset management at TRIMEDX. Questions and comments can be directed to 24×7 Magazine chief editor Keri Forsythe-Stephens at editor@24x7mag.com.

Moreover, the wide usage of the ventilators in the pandemic has increased the demand for medical equipment maintenance. This is a major factor that boosts the growth of the global medical equipment maintenance market.

North America dominated the market in 2020, due to its strong base of healthcare facilities and growing installation base for advanced medical technologies in healthcare facilities in the countries like U.S. and Canada. Its presence of a high number of healthcare companies, along with the various contract manufacturing organizations and contract research organizations, is benefiting the market in this region.

Further, the Asia-Pacific is expected to be the most opportunistic market during the forecast period. The rise in government expenditure to develop strong healthcare infrastructure and government policies is expected to play a significant role in the growth of the medical equipment maintenance market in the region. The rising number of hospital admissions will foster the demand for the medical equipment maintenance in the Asia pacific region, and will lead to the growth of the market during the forecast period.

The rising awareness of preventive maintenance for medical devices and increased funding in innovative devices are factors which will lead the market in the coming years. Moreover, the increasing awareness of the safety of devices, and advancements in healthcare devices, are the driving factors for the growth of the market.

However, the high costs associated with the maintenance of the devices may hamper the growth of the market some. Further, lack of adequate infrastructure and capital in the underdeveloped and developing nations may hamper the market growth during the forecast period.

The introduction of newer technologies—such as artificial intelligence and machine learning—may provide growth prospects to the market players in the near future and drive the markets growth.

Based on the equipment, the imaging equipment segment is the leading and fastest-growing segment. Driving this segment is a rise in diagnostic procedures and the increase in heart diseases.

Based on the services, the corrective maintenance segment dominated the market. It includes the replacement or restoration of the devices, or components of the devices, to reinstate the physical integrity after unexpected failure.

In March 2021, iFixit, an American e-commerce and how-to website which sells repair part, launched a massive repair database for ventilators and other devices in order to help hospitals and clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic.