The Right Data at the Right Time: Leverage Total Cost of Ownership Data at the Time of Equipment Specification
Part three of a three-part series on how healthcare providers can reduce costs and protect revenue by managing the systemic total cost of ownership of biomedical equipment.
- Read part one here
- Read part two here
- Download the complete guide, How to Consider the Total Cost of Ownership when Making Biomedical Device Purchasing Decisions, here
The Challenge of Disconnected Data Streams
While healthcare technology has grown exponentially, many areas of healthcare remain siloed, and not natively connected. Numerous healthcare functions are sophisticated and tech-savvy, but they historically produce disconnected data streams, rendering informed decision making nearly impossible. Data is usually derived from these functional groups:
Supply chain is focused on getting the best price possible for selected equipment and system-wide standardization. This involves obtaining quotes along with benchmarking pricing, as well as contract utilization.
Facilities and facilitators are focused on ensuring that the space to house the equipment can be accommodated based on product specifications. Additional funding may be needed to facilitate installation and operability of selected equipment.
Finance evaluates, allocates and manages funding for selected equipment. The funding may be based on the current asset base for similar equipment.
Clinical engineering maintains all the data regarding maintenance and utilization history. This data allows for analysis and informs when a device should be recommended for replacement versus a wish list.
Modern Tools Now Deliver Real-World TCO Analytics Immediately, at the Time of Specification
Attainia and Accruent, leaders in healthcare lifecycle asset planning and management technology, have partnered to provide critical data to support actionable total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) models for equipment planning and purchasing teams. Using Attainia’s PLAN-IT equipment planning platform integrated with Accruent’s DATA INSIGHTS solution, healthcare providers can access real-world TCO data at the time of planning—before an asset is purchased or installed—to ensure they are specifying the right devices for their organization.
DATA INSIGHTS provides comprehensive TCO data points curated from more than 55% of U.S. hospitals, representing more than 289 million actual work orders, managing more than 17 million assets. The integrated DATA INSIGHTS platform displays maintenance information, useful life expectancy, labor costs, reliability analytics and informs optimal replacement schedules. It functions like a real-time dictionary of medical device models and their related reliability rankings, operating costs and expected lives. DATA INSIGHTS is a simple-to-use web application that provides clear insights, allowing hospital executives to have the right information at the right time to make the best capital planning, purchasing, maintenance and labor decisions for their biomedical equipment. The platform aggregates millions of data points and delivers valuable metrics in easy to consume visualizations to guide decisions.
With DATA INSIGHTS, healthcare decision makers and influencers can gather the information necessary to make informed decisions in a matter of seconds, with data at their fingertips delivered through a simple web interface. Data can be easily shared, and reports generated to share with other stakeholders. Using real-world work order and predictive asset lifecycles, DATA INSIGHTS delivers actual equipment useful-life data, and cost of operation, to stay ahead of a department’s capital and labor needs.
Using DATA INSIGHTS to Understand Total Cost of Ownership
Forecasting the operational cost of a medical device that is new to a hospital has historically been a guessing game, and using data to decide which device has a better TCO was not possible. The exhibit below is an illustration of how valuable real-world data could be if applied to, for example, the purchase of anesthesia machines. The two representative anesthesia machines have the same acquisition cost, but labor hours and materials costs of one device is much higher. Multiply these costs over a fleet of equipment over the life of a device and the dollars add up to very significant values.
Develop a Comprehensive TCO Strategy for Your Organization
A comprehensive TCO device strategy and documented system-wide processes are crucial for effective management of costs, which includes the complete lifecycle of asset purchase, maintenance and optimization. It is a critical step in getting control of the asset and maintenance management process to help further support a provider organization’s goals for saving money, maintaining compliance and improving patient care.
Reach out to [email protected] or fill out a demo request form to learn more about using real-world hospital data to make optimal device specification and purchasing decisions with Attainia’s PLAN-IT equipment planning platform in combination with the integrated DATA INSIGHTS solution from Accruent.
