With many hospitals facing tough economic times, some biomed departments are under the gun to cut spending and possibly services, but biomeds should seek to do just the opposite, a longtime clinical engineering leader says.

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	The Annual Conference session on the economy is one of 50 educational sessions that will be offered during the conference, which will be held in Baltimore from June 6–8. To register for the conference, visit www.aami.org/ac. For more tips on surviving in the poor economy, visit www.aami.org/economy.

“Biomed is a cost-saving department. The way that we save money in hospitals is to get bigger, not to shrink,” says Pat Lynch, a biomedical support specialist for Global Medical Imaging, and a 34-year veteran of the industry.

Lynch — who will be among the speakers at AAMI’s Annual Conference to discuss how biomeds can cope in this economy — says biomeds should consider expanding their department’s responsibilities to maintain and repair more equipment. “Historically, most biomeds are only doing the general biomedical equipment in hospitals. They are not very involved in the higher-end imaging, ultrasound, and equipment that costs big dollars to maintain.”

By bringing higher-end equipment such as ultrasounds in-house, biomeds could reduce maintenance and repair costs. Lynch will illustrate the savings by showing how a hospital can save money on diagnostic imaging maintenance. He will also provide tips on how to convince administrators to make the change by using a chart to demonstrate anticipated savings.

Other session speakers include Keith D. Persinger, senior vice president and chief financial officer for the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Britton Berek, director of regulatory compliance for ARAMARK Healthcare.

While training and travel costs often face added scrutiny when the economy is poor, biomeds should emphasize to their administrators how important training is for them, Lynch says.

“Hospitals need to realize that training is a true investment in the future,” he says. “If a nurse doesn’t go to a nursing conference for two or three years, she is still a nurse and can still practice nursing. If a biomed engineer doesn’t go to training on new equipment coming out, he will not be able to service that equipment.”

SOURCE: AAMI News: April 2009, Vol. 44, No. 4