As we close the books on 2014 later this week – WOW! Another “wild and crazy ride” this year it has been for so many. Health system merger mania continues across the country, uncertainty as to job security on some fronts and a tightening of the CMS mandated preventive maintenance “screws” have provided plenty of back drop HTM industry turmoil. Oh, did I forget to mention the “power strip” moratorium statement coming out of this year’s AAMI conference that reverberated like a “tsunami” across the entire HTM globe!
As I attempt my version of the “Great Carnac” – a swami of sorts if you will made famous by the late great king of night time talk Johnny Carson. Here are my five predications that I believe will impact the HTM service professional in 2015;
1. Health care systems will look more vigorously towards outsourcing of their medical equipment service and maintenance. The “Why” – few in-house biomedical departments have taken the initiative in implementing effective strategies needed in meeting the changing Health Care industry reimbursement market shift set to hit in 2016!
2. The “bubble” of poorly maintained medical devices is beginning to burst. The historic juggernaut strategy practiced by some in-house and alternative service providers in managing repairs on “margin” rather than “required actions in meeting original equipment specifications “are no longer staying below the radar. Capital equipment replacement frequencies are slowing and the “wreckage in the field” is beginning to surface very quickly.
3. Credentialing is on the rise and this is a good change. The strength and empowerment of any industry is best rooted in its measurements of excellence. Credentialing is a component of that measurement formula.
4. Clinical alarm protocols and their critical functionality is finally getting the visibility toward real action that has been so long in coming. Stay tuned on this topic – more to come.
5. Even with the 2015 political power shift in Congress, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not be repealed and the Health Care industry transformation will continue full steam ahead. HTM service professionals who continue to not move their career’s with this changing industry will be close to extinction by the end of this current decade.
Well you have been given a “snap shot look” into just a few of the visions as I see them in the HTM crystal ball for 2015. If approached in a manner that brings solution and forward thinking, these predications will only open door’s enabling your opportunity for success as an HTM professional. Happy New Year and wishing you a safe, healthy and prosperous 2015!