TechValidate Research on Agiliti

Introduction

This case study is based on a July 2018 survey of Agiliti customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled 300-bed acute care hospital was looking to improve service compliance and reporting, lower capital equipment expenditures and reduce administrative burden. The hospital partnered with Agiliti to develop a strategic HTM program with an onsite team of Agiliti technicians managing all equipment, contract management, and professional services.

Challenges

The profiled company ultimately select Agiliti for their Clinical Engineering Services in order to address the following business challenges at their hospital:

• Their administrative burden (time and costs)
• Capital and equipment replacement planning
• Their Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) – Inventory and Equipment Service history
• Cost of service & repairs/service to acquisition costs
• Equipment uptime
• Managing vendor contracts
• PM compliance & reporting
• Regulatory compliance & reporting
• Technician competency levels – technician skill set
• Unproductive technician time (searching for equipment, vendor management)

Use Case

Today, the profiled hospital relies on an outsourced clinical engineering program from Agiliti that features the following key capabilities:

• Onsite Agiliti technicians managing the service on all equipment
• Vendor and contract management
• Professional services: Capital planning, pre-purchase evaluations

The Supply Chain Director said there were various capabilities that differentiated Agiliti from the competition. This includes:

• Capital planning support
• Guaranteed turnaround times
• Medical Equipment Management Plan (MEMP)
• Parts and contract management
• PHI & Risk Management
• Program implementation and management process

The Supply Chain Director also identified their customer service and the synergistic benefits of using other Agiliti solutions as a key differentiator. By implementing an onsite program and using Agiliti rental services in addition to Clinical Engineering Services, the hospital was able to improve operational and financial outcomes.

Results

After implementing an Agiliti clinical engineering program, the hospital reduced overall service cost through a combination of vendor management, capital cost avoidance, capital planning and improved inventory management. As the Supply Chain Director said:
“Agiliti offers better equipment tracking and clinical engineering service that provides cost savings, PM compliance, and capital planning.”
Additionally, the profiled acute care hospital has eliminated the administrative burden related to equipment maintenance (vendor management, capital planning, searching for equipment), and they agree that the Agiliti Clinical Engineering Services program is highly valuable as it relates to the success of their facility.

The hospital achieved the following benefits thanks to the Agiliti Clinical Engineering Services program:

• Reduced service costs
• Improved PM and Recall Compliance
• Reduced administrative burden (non-productive tech time)
• Improved equipment uptime
• Achieved better labor allocation
• Avoided capital costs
• Reduced equipment rental costs
• Improved employee satisfaction
• Improved inventory management
• Improved capital (planning) allocation

In evaluating the program, the Supply Chain Director at this hospital mentioned that “the organization has realized the synergistic benefit from multiple solutions from Agiliti,” and would recommend Agiliti because of the superior capabilities Agiliti has over other vendors.

Introduction

This case study is based on a June 2017 survey of Agiliti customers by Techvalidate, a 3rd party research service. The profiled hospital in this case study was heavily focused on reducing patient risk, boosting staff productivity and reducing medical equipment-related costs. The hospital selected Agiliti’ on-site equipment management program to fix their fragmented process and to help them achieve these goals.

Challenges

The profiled hospital selected Agiliti’ on-site equipment management program to address the following business challenges at their hospital:

• Equipment availability (shortages)
• Time to therapy (equipment delays)
• Equipment in-service / Just in time orientation
• Broken / non-functional equipment
• Risk reduction (HAIs, HAPIs, Falls)
• Nurse satisfaction
• Nurse productivity
• Nurse time spent at the bed side
• Patient satisfaction (care responsiveness)
• Equipment utilization (% time in use)
• Equipment tracking
• Lost equipment
• Equipment cleaning and documentation
• Having multiple rental vendors
• Medical equipment rental and capital costs

In addition, the hospital estimates that their nurses spent 31-45 minutes on administrative tasks each shift before implementing Agiliti’ on-site services.

Use Case

Today, the profiled hospital relies on Agiliti’ on-site program and staff to manage the following equipment types:

• Infusion pumps
• Feeding pumps
• ALPS Currie Medical machines
• Blanketrol Hypothermia machines
• PCA pumps, Epidural Pumps, & T-pumps
• Bed exit alarms

When asked, the Director of Patient Care Services identified the following capabilities of the program as direct benefits for the nursing staff:

• Ability to reduce equipment delays and improve speed to therapy
• On-site single point of contact
• 24/7 service coverage
• Equipment delivery to the patient room / floor
• Designated equipment storage
• Equipment availability

Results

The surveyed hospital agrees that the on-site equipment management program is highly valuable to the success of their facility, and Agiliti has helped them to realize the following results:

• Increased nurse satisfaction
• Improved caregiver time at bedside
• Reduced equipment delays & improved speed to therapy
• Improved equipment utilization & availability
• Improved caregiver productivity
• Reduced their administrative burden (contacting vendors, paperwork)
• Reduced lost equipment

The Director of Patient Care Service estimates that their nurses spend <15 minutes each shift on administrative tasks after implementing Agiliti’ on-site services.

When asked what would be the impact if the on-site program went away, the hospital identified the following consequences:

• A risk to the clinical outcome / patient experience
• Decreased billing accuracy for therapy timing
• Lowered equipment availability
• Increased time to therapy / treatment delays
• Unplanned capital purchases
• Increased rental expenses
• Increased nursing complaints / frustration
• Decreased caregiver satisfaction
• Decreased staff productivity
• Increased time to discharge / longer length of stay
• Decreased productivity of clinical engineering staff
• Increased capital investments toward tracking technology

The Director of Patient Care Services also mentioned that Agiliti’ program “helped to bridge the gap between different departments, which improved staff productivity and satisfaction.”