The recent webinar “Small- to Mid-Sized Independent Service Organizations – Benefits They Provide Hospitals and Challenges They Face Today” was presented by a panel of healthcare technology management (HTM) experts and was eligible for 1 credit from the ACI. The webinar was sponsored by Nuvolo.
In the 60-minute webinar, the panel of HTM leaders and representatives from small- to mid-sized independent service organizations (ISOs) discussed the challenges smaller ISOs face in 2022. They also shared the impact these challenges may have on hospitals. Most hospitals utilize smaller third-party service providers to some degree as a way to provide clinical equipment maintenance support when needed. It may be to supplement the in-house HTM team when staff levels are low or workloads are high. In addition, many ISOs specialize in maintaining equipment the in-house staff may not be trained on and, therefore, are able to provide a less-expensive alternative to OEM contracts. Regardless of how the smaller ISOs are utilized in a hospital, they are a convenient and economical supplement to most clinical equipment maintenance programs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, fierce competition from large OEMs and ISOs, and the BMET shortage itself, has put a strain like never before on small- to mid-sized, third-party service providers.
Attendees had some great questions during the webinar, including “What is the latest in the right to repair initiative?”
Some other questions the presenters addressed were:
- The changes to the HTML field you discussed and foresee, obviously, also impact the independent service organization. Is it harder or easier for them to adapt compared to an in-house HTM department, and why?
- What is the most important thing that a civilian BMET could learn from a military BMET?
- How are they dealing with device vulnerabilities, especially in the case where an OEM cannot provide a remediation in a timely manner?
- As a new BMET, we are looking at bringing our program in house, but also maintaining a relationship with our independent service organization. What should be our primary focus?
All the questions and answers can be heard by watching the on-demand webinar at WebinarWednesday.live.
Attendees provided feedback regarding the webinar via a survey that included the question, “How will today’s webinar help you improve in your role?”
“Better understanding of general ISO perspective versus specialized ISO,” Vice President T. Graff said.
“Today’s webinar helped me understand the relation between a facility and ISO a lot better and the need for them,” Biomedical Engineering Technician A. McCray said.
“It will help with understanding different viewpoints from the ones I have seen,” Tech Manager BMET II C. Bottomley said.
For more information, visit WebinarWednesday.live.
