Hospital Maintenance Agreements: Why They're Critical

Hospital Systems And Equipment Are Critical

Medical systems and equipment are used throughout hospitals all over the world. Due to the critical nature of the services provided by hospitals, these systems must be in working order and ready to be deployed at any moment, 24/7/365. Keeping hospital systems in optimum condition and well maintained is paramount to ensuring compliance with a growing number of regulations as well as ensuring high levels of patient care.

Hospital Maintenance Agreements Are Key To Efficiency Of Systems Performance

Maintenance agreements for systems, software, and equipment take on special importance in hospital settings with a direct impact on operations, which impacts patient care. This means maintenance contracts hold strategic significance and should be entered into carefully with attention paid to detail. Anything less than that could create multiple issues downstream.

For example, a hospital’s pneumatic tube system is on the job 24/7, 365 days a year. These systems carry medications, materials, specimens, and even blood throughout the hospital campus. The software that drives these systems controls and monitors all the connected devices throughout the pneumatic tube system network as well as the carriers sent through the system. A comprehensive software maintenance agreement ensures that the system gets regular maintenance checks and is kept in top working order. Any issues can be quickly handled with a minimum of downtime. This keeps the system operating efficiently, enabling clinicians and other personnel to focus on providing care to patients.

Lack Of Comprehensive Hospital Maintenance Agreements Bring Serious Risks

The National Institute of Health notes that while the importance of carrying out regular maintenance of large scale medical systems and equipment is crucial to hospitals, many are not making it a priority, which can result in a number of serious issues for the hospital and its patients.

When issues do arise, hospitals lacking comprehensive maintenance agreements are left scrambling to find fixes on the fly. That means the facilities manager and the IT team will need to drop everything and attempt to troubleshoot the issues while they wait for a response from the vendor. However, those with service agreements will be in front of the line. The wait can take days. In the meantime, there is a critical system that is not doing its job. Care to patients will undoubtedly be compromised, all because management opted for either a minimal service agreement or none at all.

Growing Government Regulations Require Hospitals To Properly Maintain Their Systems

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports caution hospitals to pay close attention to federal and state regulations. Many may require a certain level of equipment maintenance activities, including maintaining, inspecting, and testing equipment regularly. They may also establish other maintenance requirements. It is important that hospitals remain in compliance with these stringent maintenance requirements.

All Maintenance Agreements Are Different, But All Bring Important Benefits

There are a wide range of hospital maintenance agreements available depending upon the type of systems and equipment being supported. And while each is unique, there are several common benefits they bring to a hospital:

• Faster access to service. A system or software maintenance agreement gives you a level of access you won’t get elsewhere. It should allow you to contact and speak with a person 24/7 who has experience working with your system.
• Regular system updates. Most systems include software components. Regular system updates are key to ensuring that the system continues to operate in the manner it was designed to. Without regular updates, the software may slow down the system processes. It may also be more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
• Version upgrades. A software maintenance contract will give you automatic access to key version upgrades as new enhancements or more capabilities are added. These upgrades are important in that they can lift an application up to a much higher performance level.
• Immediate access to parts for replacement. Even if the parts need to be paid for, having direct access to parts from the manufacturer is important. Without access, sourcing can become problematic.
• Regular scheduled maintenance. Regular maintenance can help detect issues before they become serious. Most hospital service maintenance agreements include scheduled maintenance check-ups. They should be taken advantage of to avoid unnecessary downtime.
• Expanded product life span. Regular maintenance keeps systems in optimum working order. That means they are more likely to last much longer than those that are left alone.
• Money savings. Hospital systems that are well maintained mean less intervention is needed by busy IT and facilities management personnel. Time is money, and their talents should be used to handle more high value responsibilities.

Developing Best Practices For Hospital System And Software Maintenance

Most hospitals have several system and software maintenance contracts in place. As stated earlier, the types of agreements will vary. All agreements, however, will be optimized when a hospital follows best practices in maximizing their use of them.

Select The Right Agreement For Your Needs

Would a standard contract meet your needs, or would your hospital be better served with a premier agreement? Make sure you read these contracts carefully. Often a premier service or software management agreement proves more economical in the long run.

Make Sure All Key Personnel Are On Board And Prepared

This should include your hospital facilities management, technicians, IT team and other operations personnel. They should also be included in the decision process and be working collaboratively to ensure your vendors are performing in all areas according to the contract.

Stay On Top Of Scheduled Maintenance

Once a contract is signed, it’s time to make sure you are in regular contact with the hospital maintenance team and that your scheduled maintenance appointments are kept. These appointments may be on site or remote. Make sure your systems have open interfaces that can be accessed by remote technicians.

Hospital System And Software Maintenance Agreements Are Worthy Investments

While many of today’s hospitals are still operating on tight post-COVID budgets, this is not a time to neglect to budget for secure solid maintenance agreements from vendors and suppliers.

The systems, equipment, and software used in today’s hospitals play a pivotal role in ensuring that patients receive timely and effective care. They support all aspects of hospital operations. Leaders should take an active role in strategically aligning their maintenance agreements to support their own high standards of services provided within their hospitals and to their patient communities.