Predictive Replacement Planning

It is common for the most vocal department within a healthcare institution to receive much of the available capital budget. This can be detrimental to smaller departments that need replacement equipment or new purchases. Many healthcare facilities complete the time-consuming process of allocating funds without much deliberation. 

It is, therefore, essential for the organization to take an integrated approach to capital budget planning, and to ensure that all departments receive a fair and equal chance to make their case for additional funding. This can be a challenging task, but it is paramount if the facility is to run smoothly and provide the best possible care for its patients. But how do you do this? That's where predictive replacement planning comes into play. 

A comprehensive capital medical inventory solution

The ECRI Predictive Replacement Planning Service can help your healthcare organization save millions of dollars over a 5 to 10-year replacement cycle. Predictive replacement planning is a deep dive into the capital medical inventory of a healthcare institution and provides recommendations based on data analytics from multiple ECRI databases. Our Predictive Replacement Planning Service can help healthcare organizations identify opportunities to reduce inventory costs and improve patient care. We can also help identify opportunities to replace capital equipment with more modern and cost-effective alternatives, as well as to optimize inventory investments. 

Predictive replacement planning can help your healthcare organization save money in several ways. First, it can help reduce inventory costs by identifying opportunities to replace aging or underutilized equipment with more modern alternatives. Furthermore, it can help improve patient care by recommending replacements that are more compatible with current technology and practice patterns. Finally, it can help optimize inventory investments by recommending replacements that are more cost-effective than the current equipment. 

The Predictive Replacement Planning Service is backed by the expertise of ECRI. We have over 50 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and our data analytics and recommendations are based on the latest research and best practices.

Predictive replacement planning health system case study

ECRI recently completed an imaging-only predictive replacement plan and vendor standardization project. The project resulted in an estimated $18M in savings over 10 years. 

The project involved 14 hospitals. The goal was to move from nine imaging vendors to three vendors across all hospitals. This was accomplished by using ECRI's Decision Visualization Tool. This tool allowed physicians and department directors to come together and make a unified decision when shown objective data. 

The $18M savings represents the cost savings for anticipated purchases that were realized by the move to three vendors. There will be additional savings in reduced maintenance, training, and operational supply costs. This will lead to reduced variability in care, thereby improving patient safety. 

Understanding our predictive model

Our Predictive Replacement Planning Service is unique from the typical replacement planning services you will find. How is ECRI unique? Our approach offers a fresh perspective, framed with you in mind, instead of a generic approach that only considers factors like equipment age. We use 10 to 14 evaluation points for each device analyzed with weighted scoring, including cybersecurity risks, parts availability, recall history, mission-critical impact, and more. 

Our process for predictive replacement planning provides access to recall and out-of-support data, uses a true quoted price paid database, instead of list prices; and experienced clinicians in multiple specialties reviewed it. We discuss our initial findings with the clinical stakeholders and adjust our recommendations based on current clinical needs. Our analysts have years of clinical and hospital operations experience. So, if you are looking for a proven method to reduce capital spending and decrease equipment downtime, maintenance costs, and clinical obsolesce, ECRI's predictive replacement planning can help. 

ECRI’s Predictive Replacement Planning Service saves your healthcare organization time and money. The inventory assessment provides a comprehensive view of the capital medical equipment at your institution, and the plan offers specific recommendations for the replacement of individual pieces of equipment. Our predictive replacement planning supports key ECRI membership services, including Device Evaluation, Capital Guide, and Alerts Workflow.

Unbiased decision-making

ECRI’s Predictive Replacement Planning Service is an objective, data-driven approach to equipment replacement that considers all available information, not just the age of the equipment. The Predictive Replacement Planning Service is based on ECRI’s long history of unbiased research and recommendations to healthcare organizations. 

Our Predictive Replacement Planning Service considers organizational goals and patient characteristics and needs, as well as availability of parts and changing technologies. The service can help healthcare organizations make informed replacement decisions based on the best interests of their patients. 

It is not based solely on the age of the equipment or the subjective desire or influence of a department director or physician. Predictive replacement planning is based on multiple objective factors, including device recall data, Original Equipment Manufacturer, OEM support, part availability from OEM and aftermarket sources, changing technologies, device utilization, device reliability, and clinical practice needs. 

This service is an important tool for making informed, unbiased replacement decisions. Below, let's take a closer look at how we determine our replacement schedule. 

How ECRI develops our replacement schedule

ECRI employs several factors to develop our replacement schedule, including:

Organization goals and objectives

ECRI's Predictive Replacement Planning Service also is based on the organization's goals and objectives. We work closely with key stakeholders, such as the COO, CNO, CIO, and CFO to ensure that our recommendations reflect the organization's plans for expanding or contracting service lines and programs, budget expectations, and more. Our team is experienced in health care and understands the importance of working collaboratively with all members of the organization to provide the best possible service.

Patient needs

At ECRI, we understand that every patient is different and has different needs. That's why our Predictive Replacement Planning Service is tailored to the patient needs of the provider. We consider the equipment already in place and whether it meets the needs of both the patient population and the clinician. Plus, we use our databases to check for recalls and other possible negative histories. This way, we can identify safe equipment and meet the patient's needs now and in the future.

If the risks associated with the current equipment are too high, or if the replacement equipment will offer significant benefits to the patient, we will work with you to develop a timeline for the replacement equipment.

Cybersecurity

Another vital factor of our Predictive Replacement Planning Service is based on our in-depth knowledge of medical device technology and our expertise in cybersecurity. We work closely with our customers to identify devices that need to be replaced due to outdated operating systems and other inherent risks.

Medical device cybersecurity is a critical concern in today’s healthcare environment. Many hospitals are still using outdated devices that lack the necessary security features to protect them from cyber threats. ECRI is committed to helping our clients protect their devices from cyberattacks by collaborating with their IT teams to identify and replace devices that are vulnerable to attack.

Equipment maintenance history

Our Predictive Replacement Planning Service considers the current condition of medical equipment and its maintenance history. This information is crucial in making accurate predictions about when a particular piece of equipment will need to be replaced. We'll meet with clinical engineering and clinical department leaders to determine if there are any service issues with a particular piece of equipment. If there are, then we may choose to accelerate the replacement strategy.

For example, if a piece of equipment is breaking down more often than usual, or if it's difficult to find replacement parts, leaders may want to consider replacing the equipment sooner rather than later. Conversely, if a piece of equipment is still functioning well, leaders may decide to defer replacement.

No matter the decision, ECRI can help leaders make the most informed decision possible about when to replace equipment.

Equipment Age

Finally, we consider the age of your equipment. We will analyze each piece of capital equipment and assign it a Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS) number to determine the average lifespan of the equipment based on our proprietary biomedical benchmarking data. This number will be adjusted according to the actual usage of the device.

For example, if a piece of equipment is used more heavily than average, its projected lifespan will be shorter; if it's used less than average, its lifespan will be longer. Our predictive replacement planning service takes all of these factors into account to help you make the most informed replacement decisions for your capital equipment.

Accurately plan medical equipment replacements

This approach is becoming increasingly important, as the cost of medical equipment continues to rise. By using predictive replacement planning, healthcare organizations can build clinical environments that empower them to provide the best possible care for their patients. So, consider working with ECRI for your replacement planning today.

Setup a consultation with an ECRI expert to learn more about how to better manage capital budgets using Predictive Replacement Planning Services from ECRI.