Ask HRC: Risk Management Issues with Physician-Owned Equipment

A Healthcare Risk Control System (HRC) member recently asked for guidance on risk management issues to address when a clinician requests to use his or her own medical equipment, such as a laser, to provide patient care.

Facilities may wish to consider a policy to address equipment and devices that are brought into the facility for a specific procedure and removed from the premises afterward—as may be the case with physician-owned equipment and devices. Such a policy might include a requirement that each item be inspected every time it enters the facility and that the same safety measures required of hospital-owned equipment and devices be applied to physician-owned equipment and devices. Additional information about physician-owned equipment and implants is available...