Why Healthcare Facilities need a quality CMMS

From freestanding emergency departments and urgent care facilities, to ambulatory care centers, outpatient care is taking center stage in the healthcare environment.  Facilities are being tailored to meet and exceed the expectations set forth by patients.  Ever-evolving care delivery models play a part in shaping these facilities.

Expanded access to care has created new and adapted healthcare delivery models and, ultimately, new or renovated facilities.  Advancing technologies are leading the way to a more connected environment, providing simpler and more streamlined healthcare.  In addition, energy efficient building systems are evolving to improve the overall health of a facility.  A quality Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can enhance your facility, and transform data into insight.

Comfort and Safety

For a healthcare facility, the comfort and safety of its patients must always be paramount. The facility’s staff work hard to maintain a reliable and steady level of care to the people they treat. These efforts must be supported by the infrastructure.

This means that, when a member of staff needs to utilize a certain piece of equipment or refer a patient for a certain treatment, they need to know that this equipment or treatment is available and in full working order. CMMS software ensures that the facility and equipment is in order for the patient to remain comfortable and safe at all times.

Avoiding Disaster

No one wants to experience a sudden loss of power or a catastrophic system failure, but for a healthcare facility, this can spell disaster. At best, the ongoing care and rehabilitation of patients will be severely delayed and disrupted; at worst, sudden loss of capability can result in death or long-term injury. This is why healthcare facilities deploy layer upon layer of protection in order to maintain constant care, including backup generator systems, regular maintenance schedules, and alternative means of treatment.

But this cannot be relied upon without a powerful CMMS in place. This system gives management, staff, patients, and their friends and family the peace of mind that comes with knowing all equipment and systems are in working order and ready to be used as and when they are needed. With a CMMS as an extra layer of protection, averting crises should be simple.

Staying Compliant

Legal compliance is the difference between a facility which is able to go on providing great care and assistance to patients and one which is closed down by the authorities. Under new regulations, Hundreds to thousands of additional pieces of medical equipment will be added to hospital inventories, with administrators required to track and ensure that manufacturers recommend maintenance procedures are followed. Through proper management and implementation, you can make sure that your healthcare facility is fully compliant, using a CMMS is a major step towards this.

There is a multitude of legal codes and requirements which American healthcare facilities must abide by. Some are general codes which bind all public premises, while others are specific to the provision of healthcare. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) are just a few of the bodies which publish codes of practice for healthcare facilities. While a CMMS will not guarantee compliance, implementing such a system makes compliance far easier to assess and to achieve.

Efficiency Boosting and Cost Reduction Activities

But avoiding disaster and staying compliant are really just minimum standards. To perform at its best, a healthcare facility must be lean, mean and ready to meet any of the myriad challenges that could be thrown its way. This means a consistent focus on efficient operation and on reduced costs, leaving your teams free to do what they do best; provide excellent care.

How can you ensure smooth and efficient operation if you don’t know what needs to be upgraded and maintained? How do you reduce costs if an antiquated piece of machinery could fail at any moment? The simple answer to both of these questions is: you can’t. Understanding and insight are both necessary here and this can only be achieved via the implementation of a reliable CMMS and a facility-wide culture of utilizing and updating this software.

Eagle CMMS provide reliable, robust systems for healthcare facilities worldwide. To discover more about how this software can help you and your facility, head over to the product pages or get in touch with a member of the team today.