Major Product Offering
- The Maintenance Advantage®
- General Biomedical Services
- Diagnostic Imaging Services
- Clinical Engineering Services
- Temporary Technical & Clinical Staffing Services
- Medical Equipment Sales
These components of technical and engineering service combine to provide
our clients with one source that meets or exceeds all of their medical
equipment management needs.
The Maintenance Advantage® Program Overview
NovaMed’s
The Maintenance Advantage (TMA) is a fixed
fee, multi-vendor equipment management program that consolidates service
contracts and management of capital assets for health care facilities
into a single source agreement. TMA guarantees cost savings by discounting
prior service costs by 10% to 30% .
The client facility does not need to submit individual claims for reimbursement,
nor do they have to handle and process individual invoices from service
vendors. NovaMed handles the dispatching, coordination and processing
of all service vendor relationships, including scheduling, invoicing
and payment. Summary reports are then provided to the client facility
to monitor program activity.
The Mission of The Maintenance Advantage is to contribute to the client’s
organizational success by pro-actively managing the service of all covered
equipment. NovaMed will provide service directly using our trained and
credentialed staff, or manage the services of the OEM or alternate qualified
service provider when called for by the specialization of the technology
or by geographic location.
The structure of this comprehensive equipment service management program
is based on the general philosophy that the most cost-effective and
quality-oriented service strategy employs a mix of OEM, qualified independent
service organizations (ISO), NovaMed’s personnel of on-site and
field-dispatched Technology Managers, and the facility’s technical
staff. Orchestrating the best mix of these service providers allows
NovaMed to design the most cost effective, flexible, and quality-oriented
program tailored to the needs of each facility.
NovaMed utilizes Technology Managers, experienced in medical equipment
servicing to provide an advisory and consultative role at each TMA account.
These managers are responsible for implementing the entire TMA program
at assigned sites and integrating TMA with the facility’s internal
resources to optimize the service delivery process. By continually monitoring
the service process, the Technology Manager can respond to problems
and develop improvements as needed.
NovaMed’s
TMA program follows the scheduled maintenance procedures recommended
by respective equipment manufacturers and industry standards. Documentation
protocols regarding maintenance procedures are in compliance with all
regulatory agency requirements including the Joint Commission on the
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), ACR, MQSA, AAAHC,
the National Electric Code and the National Fire Protection Association,
as well as all other federal, state and local agencies.
Total healthcare technology management with guaranteed cost savings
– that is The Maintenance Advantage.
General Biomedical Services
Our technical staff includes certified biomedical equipment technicians,
clinical engineers and radiology field service engineers. Technicians
have completed a minimum of an associate's degree in biomedical engineering
technology, with the average length of biomedical equipment maintenance
experience of nine years. Our technicians have certificates of completion
from the leading manufacturer service training schools. The experience
of our staff allows NovaMed to understand and respond to each hospital's
need for a professional and effective clinical equipment service team.
NovaMed provides clinical engineers and biomedical engineering technicians
to client facilities in order to provide a JCAHO-compliant Medical Equipment
Management Program including scheduled inspection and preventive maintenance,
repair, and documentation to ensure the safe and effective operation
of the hospital's equipment.
NovaMed performs inspection, calibration and preventive maintenance
in accordance with the applicable federal, state and local regulations
with emphasis on JCAHO and OSHA patient care equipment standards. Patient
care equipment will be inspected according to a Risk-based Inspection
Program based on JCAHO standards for equipment maintenance and management.
NovaMed’s staff will ensure that all aspects of the record keeping
system are updated and maintained appropriately.
NovaMed Biomedical Technology Services is available to provide the
following:
• Equipment Repair
• Performance Assurance Inspections
• Preventive Maintenance
• Computerized Documentation and Equipment Control System
• Electrical Safety Inspections
• Incident Investigation
• Pre-purchase Evaluation Consultation
• Acceptance Testing of Equipment
• Quality Assurance Reporting
Diagnostic Imaging Services
(on-site and field-dispatched)
NovaMed
is one of the largest independent multi-vendor imaging equipment service
providers in the United States. NovaMed’s Diagnostic Imaging Services
group is comprised of credentialed service engineers having an average
of twenty years of field service experience. These engineers came to
NovaMed as factory trained field service providers from the major imaging
equipment manufacturers such as General Electric, Siemens, Picker, Hewlett
Packard, etc. Their expertise covers all imaging modalities including
general radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, computed tomography,
angiography and diagnostic ultrasonography, as well as complete equipment
relocation, deinstallation and installation services.
The reputation of NovaMed’s Diagnostic Imaging Services group
is widely known for its responsiveness, technical ability and customer
support. NovaMed’s engineers are frequently called upon by equipment
manufacturers, other independent service providers, and in-house hospital
engineers to provide equipment service at the highest level and to troubleshoot
difficult problems. NovaMed’s imaging group serves regionally
as the preferred multi-vendor service entity for three national imaging
equipment manufacturers and two national healthcare outsourcing firms.
Clinical Engineering Service
NovaMed's
Clinical Engineering Services group provides several services which
complement the equipment management program. Environmental testing for
traces of ethylene oxide (EtO) and glutaraldehyde in sterilization areas,
nitrous oxide (N2O) in anesthetizing locations and formaldehyde and
xylene in laboratory areas is performed in accordance with OSHA, NIOSH
and other regulatory guidelines. NovaMed also provides testing of medical
gas distribution and piping systems for oxygen, nitrous oxide, air and
vacuum. These gas purity and system performance tests are performed
routinely to ensure proper system function and to certify new construction
or system modifications.
In addition to these testing services, the Clinical Engineering Services
group provides equipment management reports to assist clients in the
utilization of their medical equipment. These reports include monitoring
of all published Alerts and Recalls issued by the government or equipment
manufacturers as they pertain to a client's inventory of medical equipment;
equipment replacement planning reports wherein the client's complete
equipment inventory is compared to published depreciation and useful-life
standards; and Quality Improvement reports which reflect the efficacy
of the medical equipment management program and identify trends, both
positive and negative, related to equipment use and maintenance. Indicators
in these reports are compared with benchmarking data for facilities
of similar size and makeup.
Temporary Technical & Clinical Staffing Services
For a single all-inclusive rate, NovaMed provides short-term, long-term
or permanent staffing with no minimum assignments. Our highly qualified
personnel include Biomedical Equipment Technicians, Diagnostic Imaging
Engineers and Clinical support in the fields of General Radiology, CT/MRI,
Ultrasound, Mammography and more. Designed to accommodate work-force
fluctuations, changes in patient census and to prevent the need to increase
FTE’s, NovaMed offers flexible staffing in the technical and clinical
areas, when you need it.
