By Dean Skillicorn
Servicing medical imaging equipment is a challenge, an opportunity and a process that must be vetted with appropriate participation with other groups in your organization. Many challenges and opportunities exist for facilities to meet expectations for performing service on medical imaging equipment. Discussions need to address service opportunities, relationships, safety, finance, and having appropriate knowledge of utilization issues affecting imaging services in your organization. The first of these issues for discussion are financial implications.
Medical imaging is a large financial opportunity for any organization. Healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs), medical imaging and their health technology management partners must understand the environment that these unique systems operate in and the financial impact they have on the organization. The key is more than understanding your service contract costs. It is imperative that any servicing of medical imaging equipment include a basic understanding of the revenue/reimbursement data and the volumes, case mix and, most importantly, when those volumes occur to be able to develop service level agreements that will make the medical imaging services in your organization successful.
Organizations and their HTM providers must understand each modality and its unique case mix, case volume and timing of patient care services by medical imaging. Each modality is different in how it earns revenue and how that revenue affects the financial performance of the HDO. Not all modalities need or can be serviced in-house. Contracts may still need to be utilized in some form. An organization’s medical imaging services and health technology service providers need to be responsible in facilitating discussions around each modality. Collaboration must be obtained in how services are designed and affect operations. Organizations need to identify what opportunities exist to establish service level agreements (SLAs) that make the organization profitable.
The key to developing strong and appropriate SLAs will be understanding peak operational times of each modality. When is the system itself utilized the most? Organizations must understand non-urgent service times need to compliment utilization of the systems by developing appropriate SLAs.
Utilizing this methodology will allow the organization to develop SLAs for general services such as preventive/scheduled maintenance, upgrades or other non-urgent services. Once established, emergency service type coverages can be established to ensure equipment is returned to service in expedient times that meet the organization’s need for emergency services
Consider MRI services and that the peak usage time of the MRIs is from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Designing SLAs around this data would mean that non-urgent service needs would be accomplished from 4 a.m. to noon. Urgent situations would be addressed at any time based upon who performs those services and understanding service delivery for emergency services must be accomplished quickly to lessen impact on patient care and revenue. Non-urgent services as an option could be on Saturdays – if weekend volumes allow.
In summary, developing service philosophies must include the understanding of patient volumes, utilization and prime usage of equipment. Designing services around each modality will place the organization in a premium position of providing quality care to patients and meeting its financial objectives for medical imaging.
Dean Skillicorn is the medical imaging services manager within health technology management for St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho.
