A shift toward strategic, predictive planning can help transform the way healthcare organizations manage their equipment life cycles, according to an Aug. 12 ECRI blog post.
The organization said hospitals and health systems often rely on expensive, durable equipment such as imaging systems, surgical tools and HVAC infrastructure to deliver care, yet many still approach capital replacement reactively, often waiting until equipment fails before taking action. As a result, this can lead to higher costs and missed opportunities to optimize procurement and care delivery.
To overcome the challenges, ECRI encourages healthcare organizations to embrace four solutions: a 10-year capital replacement road map, which can help identify high-risk assets and anticipate replacement needs; manufacturer agreements to lock in pricing, which can protect budgets from market volatility; cross-functional planning committees, which helps to align clinical, financial and operational priorities for faster decision-making; and integrated asset management tools, which can provide accurate, real-time data to guide evidence-based replacements.
