Introduction
In a significant advancement in healthcare operations, PartsSource has partnered with WakeMed Health and Hospitals to optimize clinical asset performance across the board. This collaboration represents a decisive shift from disjointed service models to a coordinated, data-driven approach.
The Current Landscape of Healthcare Assets
Clinical assets, integral to the delivery of healthcare, are often managed through a patchwork of service agreements, leading to excessive costs and inefficiencies. Many healthcare providers manage a bewildering number of service contracts—averaging around 146—which can consume a substantial portion of their clinical engineering budgets. This fragmentation results in inconsistent service levels, unpredictable costs, and equipment downtime, severely impacting patient care and operational performance.
Transition to PartsSource Pro
Recognizing the need for a cohesive operational strategy, WakeMed adopted PartsSource PRO®, a platform designed to provide comprehensive visibility and control over asset performance. This innovative solution consolidates asset management into a unified system that integrates service orchestration, procurement workflows, and real-time asset health monitoring. Unlike traditional methods that focus on enhancing individual workflows, PartsSource enables health systems to manage their assets holistically, significantly enhancing operational efficiency.
Achieving Real-Time Visibility and Control
With the implementation of PartsSource PRO®, WakeMed has experienced numerous benefits, including:
- - Real-time visibility: The platform allows for immediate monitoring of asset health and utilization across more than 38,000 devices, facilitating proactive decision-making.
- - Standardization of services: By establishing a uniform approach to asset management, disparate vendor services are aligned, eliminating inconsistencies in service quality.
- - Mitigation of risks: The system aids in identifying potential issues before they escalate, managing both risk and costs effectively.
Performance Management at WakeMed
At the heart of WakeMed's strategy is its multi-vendor, multi-site uptime management system, which integrates various data streams from service performance, asset telemetry, and procurement information. This allows the healthcare system to strategically:
- - Identify recurring issues and performance discrepancies within its asset fleet.
- - Prioritize maintenance and intervention efforts that have the most significant impact on patient care and operational efficiency.
- - Coordinate service and parts procurement intelligently through data-driven insights.
The focus has shifted from reactive maintenance to active performance management, driving improvements in both the uptime of devices and the overall capacity of the healthcare facilities.
Demonstrable Results
Since embracing this model, WakeMed has reported impressive outcomes:
- - Cumulative savings of $7.02 million, translating into approximately 31% sustained annual savings.
- - A dramatic reduction of $900,000 in service cost variability, which previously fluctuated significantly year to year.
- - Enhanced collaborative initiatives, including the early co-development of the Asset Uptime platform that provides predictive insights to bolster operational excellence.
These operational successes not only enhance equipment availability but also improve clinical throughput and financial health, reinforcing the benefits of an integrated approach to asset management.
The Vision of Leadership
George Reed, Clinical Engineering Director at WakeMed, emphasizes that healthcare organizations often misidentify their challenges. "It's not about having a parts problem or a service problem; it's a control problem," he notes. The adoption of PartsSource gives WakeMed the visibility needed to manage its assets efficiently, changing the dynamics of managing uptime, costs, and capacities.
Brad Casemore, Chief Customer and Growth Officer at PartsSource, underscores the significance of WakeMed’s model, stating it effectively replaces fragmented strategies with a centralized control framework, yielding notable advancements in uptime and cost efficiency.
Industry Recognition
WakeMed’s innovative strategies will be showcased at the upcoming MD Expo in Baltimore, where leaders from both WakeMed and PartsSource will present methods to enhance healthcare technology management (HTM) performance. This event will highlight how other health systems can emulate WakeMed’s success by unifying procurement processes, employing multi-vendor service strategies, and leveraging real-time insights.
Additionally, PartsSource will be honored as the Outstanding Vendor of the Year at the TechNation Tech Choice Awards, a recognition of their impactful role in improving healthcare operations nationwide.
About the Organizations
PartsSource is a leading enterprise software platform tailored for the healthcare sector. Renowned for empowering hospitals and healthcare providers, it offers solutions that maximize asset availability and operational performance. WakeMed, a not-for-profit health system based in Raleigh, N.C., has a rich history of serving its community with exceptional healthcare services, reinforcing its commitment to improving community health and well-being.
This collaboration between PartsSource and WakeMed exemplifies the future of healthcare asset management, demonstrating measurable outcomes that enhance both financial and operational resilience.