by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | August 11, 2015
From the August 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“If an appointment is canceled, it does create some customer service issues but we try to manage those as best as we can and try to assure the patient that the scanner will be up in a certain amount of time,” says Will Cook, director of the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Imaging at National Jewish Health in Denver.
The hospital informs patients that they will receive a call when the scanner is back up so they can come in for their rescheduled appointment. In addition, the hospital has another CT scanner and also a PET/CT scanner which gives them the option of doubling up if time permits.
How to avoid it
Memorial Medical Center performs over 1,500 exams per month on its Siemens SOMATOM Definition CT and now uses the company’s TubeGuard system to spot issues with the CT tubes before they become a costly problem. When the tube starts having issues, the system sends out a notification to the center and a Siemens service engineer.
Brauer then identifies the center’s low-volume timeframes, which are usually between 2 p.m. and 7 a.m. on Sunday and Monday, in order to plan the downtime. “If you have the opportunity to be forewarned, it gives you the opportunity to be forearmed,” he says.
“Taking control and planning downtime is a whole lot better than having your equipment go down on a holiday weekend or a Friday or Saturday night at the traditional high-volume times for your trauma service.”
Wake Radiology Medical Imaging in North Crolina also uses technology to monitor their equipment and reduce downtime. “It’s incredibly helpful when manufacture lets you know they have spotted issues that could ultimately cause downtime,” says Margaret King, CEO of Wake Radiology.
“The advantage of keeping our equipment up and running far outweighs the cost of this service.” King also recommends having a maintenance and service contract with the equipment vendors because when an issue arises, they respond quickly and get the equipment back up and running as soon as possible.“It’s worth that extra expense to keep patients happy and ensure our equipment is in excellent condition,” she adds.
When purchasing a service contract, she suggests that the facility should choose a level of service that reflects the number of patients they see each day and the amount of time each piece of equipment is used.
She believes that a facility should refrain from investing more money to guarantee an immediate response if that equipment is only used a handful of times each day. “Talk with the equipment manufacturer and let them help you select the most appropriate type of service contract for your facility,” she adds.
