Has the economic downturn affected your employer; and if so, how?
Here’s a look at how your colleagues responded:
The economy is causing us to look at offering services in a different way that will increase the value of our program. While we are fortunate that the impact will probably not get to the point where other industries are, this should not prevent us from attempting to be proactive with what and how we do what we do.”
—Dave Francoeur, VP of Clinical Technology Services, ARAMARK, NC
“Being self-employed, I experience demand for expertise and advise departments that wish to improve their processes and budget utilization. While we're in the midst of very difficult times, our profession nevertheless is critical for the public welfare and now more than ever is dependent on expertise and calculated guidance to make the optimal decisions about investment in medical technology, its service, and integration. The scarce resources force us to learn how to avoid mistakes especially those that were committed previously and provides lessons learned.
—Yadin David, Founder, Biomedical Engineering Consultants, TX
“We sell biomedical electronic test instrumentation. Capital purchases from the healthcare industry have frozen as has our income. Thank goodness we diversified and have consumable products otherwise we would be closed. We have scaled back to 32 hour weeks and are no longer traveling to accounts to demonstrate equipment.”
—Bill Yandell, CEO, Intratek Corp., FL
“The economic downturn has affected both the hospital and department in which I work. All travel requests for educational seminars have been suspended for this year. The Surgical Services division has instituted a hiring freeze, so if an FTE is lost to attrition we cannot rehire. In addition, cost cutting measures on supplies has become more crucial than ever before. Some surgeons are having to modify their techniques, as they also must make do with less.
—Catherine Ly, Educational Coordinator, Kettering Medical Center, OH
“Our hospital has requested that every department suspend capital spending for the first quarter and limit overtime. Operational budgets have been decreased.”
—Klade Baker, SPD Manager, GA
“Our hospital has to eliminate a $25 million deficit out of a $1 billion dollar budget. Running a deficit is illegal in Ontario. All areas have had to dig deep. Many have had to eliminate positions. We've avoided that thus far but are faced with a very tight budget.”
—Mike Capuano, Manager of Biomedical Technology, Hamilton Health Services, Canada
“Our corporation has suspended all raises, suspended the company’s matching funds to our IRA, and put all CER's for capital expenditure on an emergency only basis.”
—Samuel E. Mitchell, Biomedical Coordinator, Summit Medical Center, AR
“Revenue is down and the hospital is looking to knock two to three million off of our 2009 budgeted expenses. This has presented opportunities for the Clinical Engineering department to start doing some things in-house that have been on service contracts with the OEM for years. We are getting extra money to do training (esp. in Radiology).”
—Douglas K. George, Manager of Clinical Engineering, Elkhart General Hospital, IL
“We are closed at least one day in a two-week period for lack of cases. People are losing their insurance and we are an ambulatory center with non-emergency surgical procedures being done here.”
—Mary Bearfield, Surgery Center-Howland, OH
“The economic downturn has affected our hospital in that we suspended all capital spending for 2009—purchasing only mission critical systems or devices. Jobs have not been cut yet.”
—Michael Mappes, Clinical Engineering Supervisor, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, NE
“Being a government-subsidized hospital, we are not significantly affected by the economic downturn. If anything, we expect our patient load to increase as patients tends to prefer lower-cost healthcare to unsubsidized healthcare at private hospitals during an economic downturn. Also, our government has announced plans to bring forward development projects in the public healthcare institutions as part of its strategy to increase spending, help provide jobs and stimulate the national economy.”
—Cheong Thim Wan, Senior Manager of the Biomedical Engineering Department, Sinagpore General Hospital, Singapore.
“I am in sales and there is great caution from the hospitals on how they spend their monies now since they have to cut back on capital equipment and staff to make ends meet.”
—Ken Click, Director of Acute Renal Therapy, Fresenius Medical Care, PA
”I have reduced my overall operating budget by 10%. I have relocated one FTE to another position not related to biomed further reducing costs.”
—Bill Dugan, Director of Clinical Engineering, St. Vincent Healthcare, MT