5 Reasons to Rent Medical Equipment

By Ibby Smith Stofer

Healthcare equipment is a necessity. Patient care and clinical satisfaction are two of the top concerns of all healthcare executives. With rapid technology advancements, integration of devices, recalls and diminishing reimbursement, and increasing capital requirements, providers often struggle with how to manage and fund equipment. Using medical equipment rental as an option for acquiring medical devices continues to be a resource hospitals look at to help with these problems.

Here are 5 reasons why many healthcare facilities choose to rent medical equipment:

1. The Census Can Be Unpredictable

The hospital census refers to the number of patients occupying beds in the entire facility. With an influx of patients one of the most frustrating challenges for any care giver is when they have to chase down necessary equipment. Calling down to biomed, looking in every room and storage area for equipment delays patient care. It removes the care giver from their primary role, and is a costly way to locate equipment.

2. The Consistency of Technology is Needed for Better Patient Safety

Errors occur more often when using the same type of equipment technology but from different vendors. How one infusion pump or ventilator operates is not necessarily the same for a different model or manufacturer. Errors in programming can result in serious patient harm and lasting impact on clinician’s confidence. Neither are desirable outcomes and both can be avoided by choosing to rent medical equipment to aide in standardization.

3. Repairs, Obsolescence, and Recalls Require Prompt Replacement of Unavailable Devices

A report from Stericycle Expert Solutions revealed that medical device recalls at the Class I level were up 88% during the second quarter of 2017. The major culprit was quality issues involving device parts malfunctioning. Obsolescence also makes finding parts to repair older technology difficult, and that means longer and often more costly repairs, resulting in a shortage of equipment. The clinical engineers and biomed staff need to be trained on all patient use devices. Again, the costs of repair and obsolescence along with the impact on patients and staff can be staggering.

4. Lack of Capital Budget or Lengthy Capital Budget Approvals

Healthcare financing faces many challenges in today’s uncertain world of reimbursement, patients deferring care, and patients seeking care in alternative sites. Added to these factors, many facilities have deferred improvements in building and other necessary updates. Capital budgeting requires balancing multiple projects and priorities, best guess estimates of what may or may not occur regarding patient loads, and reimbursement. Often in uncertain times the decisions result in either no decision or delaying the decision to replace, upgrade or purchase new patient care technology. These delays impact both patient care and clinical satisfaction. Using a medical equipment rental option often acts as a bridge between the clinical need and the capital availability.

5. Ability to Assess and Try New Technology

When the rate of medical device technology introductions and upgrades seem to be surpassing the bullet trains in Japan; it is difficult to know whether the latest or most significant new technology will increase patient census, or reduce costs and improve outcomes. Through renting medical equipment the facilities can assess if it will impact any of these initiatives that are so critical to healthcare. Renting before buying may be a way to determine the potential ROI and fit.

Med One Group has been committed to making medical equipment available for nearly 30 years. We understand that these challenges are tough and because of this we continue to expand our investment in supporting the rental needs of healthcare providers. We have multiple facilities that provide medical equipment options throughout the United States. For a more thorough list check out our rental advantages page.