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Does your biomed department have what it needs?

February 06, 2013
From the January/February 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

The cost associated with training is another reason remote services can be an attractive option. As budgets continue to tighten, training budgets are often among the first to get cut. With many hospitals unable to afford the luxury of routine training, remote services allow access to up-to-date information. A shared services agreement can also offer supplemental education alongside remote services, depending on the service provider.

Less downtime
One key reason hospitals are leveraging remote capabilities more frequently is because they need equipment fixed immediately to avoid interrupting patient care. Through remote services, problems can be quickly resolved, resulting in less system downtime during collaborative troubleshooting. If there is an issue that an in-house biomedical engineer can’t resolve on their own, the hospital no longer has to wait days for a contractor to physically assess the problem – the engineer can simply make a call or go online for immediate assistance. Oftentimes, due to the advanced nature of technology today, an online engineer can “dial in” directly to a piece of equipment and solve issues remotely. Even if the problem cannot be resolved remotely, the in-house department has access to the technical insights of the OEM engineers.
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In fact, many veteran OEM field engineers work exactly this way, collaborating with remote support engineers before, during, and after a service event. Working with remote technical support teams usually leads to a quicker response and a better understanding of the problem even before on-site repairs begin. At GE Healthcare, we’ve found that collaborative efforts between remote and on-site teams result in getting equipment up and running 25 percent faster than working on it alone.

Evolving technology, evolving services
Technology is constantly evolving, and hospitals rely on extremely advanced equipment to best treat patients – it is crucial that biomedical departments have access to the most current information and expert problem-solving for that technology. No one biomedical engineer can specialize in every brand, every make and model, and every kind or equipment. A strong biomedical team, backed by a shared services agreement with remote support, empowers hospitals to receive the same benefits as a full-service OEM agreement and deliver timely responses to issues, provide great quality, and ensure maximum equipment uptime.

About the authors: Todd Singleton is market development leader for in-house services at GE Healthcare Services, and Nick Allen is director of service technology at GE Healthcare Services.

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