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INDUSTRY WATCH
THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR
HASN’T YET SEEN THE
LEVELS OF DIGITAL
DISRUPTION THAT WE HAVE
SEEN WITHIN THE RETAIL
ENVIRONMENT PER SE.
the replacement of equipment at given
intervals, together with full maintenance
and service packages and then has a
bespoke financial solution encompassed
within this. An MES is designed to be that
solution. With dwindling budgets, hospital
managers and procurement directors need
to, more than ever, consider the cost of the
investment, against the potential return. An
MES can provide a hospital with an always-
on solution that provides them with the
latest healthcare technology, guaranteed
equipment uptime, regular maintenance
and equipment/consumable replacement all
for a known fixed monthly or annual fee. An
MES is designed to be a flexible agreement
that can not only enhance patient care
but also improve operational efficiency. By
utilising an MES solution, a hospital can
transfer the financial and maintenance
risk onto the provider, as an MES solution
can be kept off the institution’s balance
sheet, allowing for a potential VAT reclaim.
Further financial gains include benefiting
from fixed interest rates. Perhaps the
biggest advantage of an MES is the time
and money savings that can be generated.
In addition to the VAT savings, an MES
means you can price your future deliveries,
negotiate discounts for large volumes of
equipment and service, and also benefit
from no disposal costs. Aside from lowering
the hospital’s total cost of the ownership by
placing the administrative burden onto the
MES provider, the hospital can save itself
76
INTELLIGENTCIO
significant time and improve operational
efficiency by having the provider manage
the complete solution.
Another area that can benefit from the
implementation of digital technology is
healthcare asset management. Currently, we
see a lot of healthcare institutions lacking
an adequate asset management system,
with excel spreadsheets still proving a
popular method. In corporate settings, asset
management software is already pretty
common, with hospitals being left behind.
Hospitals have a wide spectrum of equipment
available to them; from CT scanners and X-rays
to endoscopy equipment and infusion pumps.
What we don’t know, however, is how hospitals
actually manage these types of equipment.
How do you know where each asset is located?
How do you know when a CT scanner requires
maintenance or service? How do you keep
track of invoices and work out how much an
asset is really costing you? These complications
that patients don’t often consider or even
realise are present all contribute to the level of
care a hospital can provide.
Doctors and clinical nurses can’t afford
to spend their time looking for missing
equipment. The importance of efficient
hospital asset and contract management
cannot be overlooked. Having a system
in place that can: track where an asset is
located; provide access to all contracts and
invoices; unlock VAT savings; has all the
latest equipment information on such as
date of last service; allows you to order
new equipment and create problem
tickets at the touch of a button, cannot be
underestimated. Such a system can unlock
significant time and cost savings, relieving
the administrative burden away from
hospital staff, thus allowing them to focus
on patient care.
A lot of asset and contract management
tools now come with apps that allow
you to scan barcodes directly from your
smartphone or tablet. By using your
smartphone’s camera or combining it
with a handheld scanner, you can capture
the serial numbers of all assets and
allocate them automatically. The app can
then transmit this data directly to your
online asset management system.
This digitalised process helps to provide
more reliable asset tracking, in addition to
saving time and money, by automating
what would otherwise be quite a
cumbersome, lengthy manual process.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
asset management is another form of
digital technology that can improve
efficiency with regards to the tracking
of assets. Unlike a barcode, with RFID
technology the tag does not need to
be within the line of sight of the reader,
meaning it can be embedded within the
tracked object. RFID technology unlocks
the potential for further significant time
savings for the hospital.
We are still waiting for Digital
Transformation to really take off in the
healthcare industry, but there is no reason
why it shouldn’t be able to significantly
improve current processes. The way our
healthcare industry operates hasn’t really
changed much over time. If, as a patient,
we recognise something is wrong, we make
an appointment, sit in a waiting room, see a
doctor and then receive the verdict. We are
starting to witness a slight change to this
model with the increase in mobile apps that
empower the patient. Could we possibly
ever transform our healthcare environment
to shift away from its reactive state, to a
model that focuses on predictions and
preventions. We are still some way from
achieving this, but it remains a goal that we
should strive to achieve. n
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