Posted by vsarmiento, 3/4/2010 5:58:32 AM

Documentation and justifying existence as an in-house biomed operation shouldn't be a problem in a well planned operation.  The KEY is to first develop and institute a well defined equipment maintenance program as part of your Environment of Care Plan, that satisfactorily, continuously meeting, approved and tested by JCHAO and other government accreditation agencies.  Having this accredited plan in placed will trigger your department's funding flow.  Having a well planned in-house operation, staffed by qualified and properly trained / oriented technical staff that will implement the maintenance program is next. Although it took me at least 5 - 10 years to achieve this minimum staffing level of 30 engineers, providing basic biomed services for a 1200 bed hospital,  it is still doable.  Once you're satisfied that this level of service is achieved, the next move is to expand service delivery to other disciplines in the hospital. Complicated Radiology and Laboratory equipment will be our next target.  We'll gather all maintenance associated cost which are normally covered by various service contracts for these high-end devices.   The cost savings realized by taking these added responsibilities, being in-house can give an added assurance of within a 30 minutes response time, with an equipment uptime guaranty from your dept. will far more justify any parts and operational costs for the biomed dept.  Any documentation needs, aspects or requirements of the department were already pre-addressed and satisfied at the very onset of our program. As the dept.  Environment of Care Plan was properly developed, spelled and laid out, then implemented.  And again validated and critique by  JCHAO,  as well as tested during an actual credentialing processes or surveys.