FrontEnders Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd

Showing posts with label healthcare consultant. Show all posts

Amongst the various Indian industries, healthcare happens to be one of the largest and significantly growing sectors both in the context of revenue and employment. One of the major reasons that has accelerated this magnificent growth is the broadened coverage, exhaustive spectrum of services, increased societal awareness and rising expenditure by both private and public stakeholders.

Apart from the current COVID-19 crisis that has created a huge turmoil in Indian healthcare and world alike, some of the factors which are driving the healthcare market in India are:

Alarming rise of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and obesity.
Challenging demands for robust clinical systems to combat rising healthcare costs.
Innovative technological advancements.
Rapid penetration of the health insurance players.
Remarkable support by the Indian government with initiatives like e-health, tax exemptions, concessions and incentives for the people.

Healthcare Market Trends

With rising demand, Indian healthcare market is forecasted to reach USD 372 billion in the next two years.
The hospital industry is having a growth rate of 16-17 percent and is estimated to be nearly USD 133 billion by 2022.
Indian medical tourism is growing at a remarkable rate of 18%.
Health insurance and mergers and acquisitions in the hospital are gaining momentum. Nearly 20% of Indians are covered by insurance currently.
The healthcare information technology market is expected to grow 1.5 times the current value.
The investment in medical infrastructure is likely to cross USD 200 billion by the year 2024.
Most of the Indian hospitals have adopted telemedicine services making healthcare accessible to many. This market is growing at a rate of 20% and is expected to reach USD 32 million this year.
India is emerging as a leading manufacturer of wearables and is likely to sell almost 129 million of these healthcare devices by 2030.
There is widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence(AI) for maintaining healthcare records efficiently and providing the best possible healthcare outcomes to patients at the right times.
The usage of robotic surgeries is gaining momentum and this market is forecasted to reach a potential of USD 350 million by the year 2025.
The Indian government intends to raise public health funding to 2.5 percent of the GDP by the year 2025.
The demand for healthcare services is going to increase as life expectancy beyond 70 years is likely to rise after 2022.

Gap in India Healthcare
Despite the various endeavours by the Indian government including national healthcare policies and programmes, it is ironic that the accessibility of healthcare to the economically backward citizens remains challenging. The bulk of the rural population in India cannot get care services due to the vast geographical spread and unaffordable treatment costs. Some of the other gaps in the current healthcare systems here are:

High dependency on tertiary care providers to deliver even the basic services and facilities.
Lack of a comprehensive healthcare technology solution that will promote the accessibility and reliability of primary care.
Very poor doctor to patient ratio along with an acute shortage of doctors, hospital beds, nurses and other healthcare staff.
Lengthy waiting times in hospitals and care facilities leading to poor patient experiences and increase of comorbidities.
Poor capacity to provide preventive care especially for Non-Communicable Diseases(NCD) like diabetes.
Dearth of amenities and infrastructure in rural areas leading to poor retention of doctors, nursing staff and paramedics.
Severe inadequacy of healthcare workers particularly in the rural and remote areas.
Failure to build trust in patients during online digital consultations using telemedicine technologies.
Inability of the semi-urban and rural areas to fully capitalize on the potential of digital healthcare.
due to lack of infrastructure and funds.
High out-of-pocket healthcare expenses (nearly 65%) pushing millions of Indians to the poverty every year.

Indian Healthcare Consultants, along with the government support and healthcare initiatives, can build a major role in bridging these gaps by supporting the recruitment of skilled medical professionals, implementing the innovative healthcare technologies and enabling better hospital management and administration.

The global healthcare market is experiencing rapid changes. That calls for all professionals to equip themselves with a different and diversified set of clinical skills than the past. This is particularly relevant in the context healthcare strategic managers who need to focus on good leadership and planning abilities to appropriately devise the strategies of organizations to obtain the best healthcare outcomes.

Healthcare Strategy Consulting needs a lot of careful planning and adaptations to meet a host of new challenging situations. Additionally, Hospital Management Services today focuses largely on value-based care, complex care management, patient satisfaction and high-quality care services. Therefore, there is a need for concrete strategic thinking at all staff levels of the healthcare facilities. Managers also need to develop certain qualities to support both individual and organizational goals.

Why Strategic Management is Relevant to Healthcare?

It allows organizations to be agile and proactive to meet the transitions in the healthcare environment like the entry of new market players and the implementation of evolving medical regulations and policies.
It promotes a continued focus on the planning process, scanning of the prevalent market conditions and performance reviews. This helps in coping better with environmental changes, competitor actions and industry trends.
There is a greater emphasis on performance and results.
It involves the entire organization holistically.

Strategic Manager Responsibilities

Keep pace with the dynamically changing healthcare market
Position the healthcare organization for success
Lead various teams to enable effective planning, scheduling, organizing and managing strategic action points to better forecast futuristic trends and meaningful insights and recommendations.
Collaborate internal brain-storming sessions for making valuable discussions and decisions along with the healthcare staff.
Integrate and synthesize voluminous care information and transactions to produce actionable steps for catering to the needs of the market, patient, caretakers, insurance payers, healthcare professionals and therapeutic demands and gain competitive advantage.
Assist internal team for formulating and executing sophisticated predictive models for legal clinical contracts and policies, patient cost and affordability programs, prescriber utilization, financial regulations, market positioning and branding of care units.
Ensure proper design, structure and delivery of healthcare reports, presentations and other deliverables to concerned stakeholders in the healthcare chain.
Foster improved client relationships through effective communication via face-to-face discussions, workshops, telephone calls and emails and act as the lead point of contact for client teams.
Effectively manage and mentor the work of junior team members across multiple client engagements.
Oversee the development project work plans and performance reviews of teammates.
Identify potential customer base and the guide the documentation project proposals and statement of work for future healthcare assignments.
Develop a consolidated knowledge base of the healthcare sector and consulting methodologies.
Recruit new team members for strategic planning by actively participating in the interview process and selecting the deserving candidates along with the professional support of experienced Healthcare Consulting Firms.
Make a positive impact on patient engagements by exhibiting knowledgeable insights, curiosity, intellectual skills and risk-taking abilities.
Take new measures and bold steps to push the boundaries for setting new benchmarks and make remarkable transformations in the healthcare scenario
Become a reliable partner to ensure rapid business growth of healthcare organization.
Be fully involved and instrumental in constructing and delivering health solutions to clients.

Required Skills of Strategic Manager

Knowledge and experience in consulting, big healthcare data analytics and team management skills.
Strong leadership capabilities and mentoring qualities
Excellent analytical, logical reasoning, quantitative and problem-solving abilities, exceptional communication skills and forecasting capabilities.
Keen interest and passionate drive to learn about the constantly evolving healthcare industry.
Good project planning, time management and organizational skills.
Excellent command over language for making meaningful conversational and long-term business deals.
Sound knowledge of healthcare information technology
Willingness to travel if needed
Sufficient passion about the organizational mission and be creative in driving business value.

Medical tourism to India is all set to touch the $9 billion mark in 2020. Nearly 5,00,000 medical tourists come to India seeking efficient yet affordable treatment. Chennai draws about 15% of them. It is touted as a prime destination for MVT - Medical Value Travel.
Hospitals in Chennai are offering cutting edge treatment at competitive pricing to patients, thanks to their able hospital management service. This state-of-the-art treatment facility must be extended to medical tourists also and this can be done only with the help of an expert healthcare consulting firm. Only an experienced hospital consulting service can bridge the gap between hospitals and medical tourists.

Why is Medical Tourism in India Booming?
Medical tourism in India is seeing a stupendous growth of 55% and is the 5th among the medical destinations in the world. People from Africa, Middle East, South-East Asian countries and even Europe flock to India for affordable treatment.
The reasons for the rise of medical tourism in India are as follows.

• Treatment costs are literally halved
For foreign tourists, the cost of medical treatment in India is just 50% of what they would incur at their parent country. For instance, a heart -valve replacement that costs $200,000 in the U.S. is only $ 10,000 in India, inclusive of the tickets and holiday vacation. This is just 1/10th of their treatment cost at home. This is why people flock to India to get precise clinical treatment at pocket-friendly rates.

• World-class standards of treatment
The medical expertise available at Indian hospitals is at par with world standards. Indian doctors have achieved major medical breakthroughs in areas like these

Robotic Cardiac Surgery
Robotic Liver Transplant
Fractional Flow Reserve
Cyberknife Radio Surgery for cancer treatment
Conscious Cardiac Bypass Surgery etc.

These achievements have earned world-wide recognition, fame and appreciation for Indian doctors. Indian hospitals are now being regarded as being en par with international standards and are trusted worldwide for their clinical efficiency.

• A wide network of hospitals
India has 38 hospitals accredited by the global medical authority-JCI-Joint Commission International. It has 619 hospitals accredited by the NABH- National Accreditation Board for hospitals and healthcare providers. The 4 metropolises-Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore have emerged as healthcare hubs with hospitals of international repute.

• Excellent postoperative survival rate
Yes, Indian hospitals have an excellent postoperative survival rate. In other words, the post-operative mortality rate at Indian hospital is only 1.4 while it is 1.9 in the U.S. To clarify better, there are more chances of the patient surviving if treated in India than in the U.S.!

• Living and travel expenses are marginal in India
When a patient arrives for treatment in India, the individual is accompanied by their family. While the patient is admitted to the hospital, the relatives stay elsewhere. For instance, it costs only $30 for daily travel in India as opposed to the $ 220 that would cost in the U.S. The cost of living and daily travel in India is much less than in other counties.
All the above factors make India an attractive destination for medical tourists.

How can a healthcare consulting firm help medical tourism in India?
A healthcare consulting firm plays a vital role in connecting hospitals with medical tourists in the following ways.

It helps hospitals to reach a worldwide audience through digital marketing
It enables hospitals to highlight their medical services and facilities on their website effectively
It enriches the social media presence of hospitals to gain attention from medical tourists.
It helps medical tourists contact the right hospitals for the right treatment
Travel and accommodation arrangements too are made by some healthcare consulting firms to help medical tourists
A competent healthcare consulting firm arranges for the hospitalization, treatment and surgery and even post-operative care for the tourist completely
The role of a healthcare consulting firm is to liaise between hospital and medical tourists and ensure that their needs are met both ways.

Medical tourism in India - a boon or a bane?
Medical tourism in India in India can only be a boon from all perspectives due to the following reasons.

It has unlocked the doors of Indian hospital to a world-wide audience
Indian hospital will now hone their clinical skills to match world standards
The facilities at Indian hospitals will be upgraded to cater to the need of international tourists
Profitability will increase for Indian hospitals due to medical tourism in India

Medical tourism in India is always a boon to both the country and the world.

In life, the only thing constant in life is change and this is especially true of healthcare. quality healthcare management can be achieved only if the hospital operations management adapts to the changes in the environment and industry. It is not a mere case of "change or be left out" but a more life-changing scenario where a small change can save or harm a patient's' life. To do this effectively, hospitals need the expert guidance of an experienced healthcare consulting firm. Let us take a look at some of the ways in which hospitals can adapt to change as advised by an expert healthcare consulting firm.

How to adapt to change in hospital operations management?

1. Plan the change
Change is often resisted in most organizations as it is seen as a loss. When even small changes like shifting the parking in a hospital are met with reticence by the staff, adapting to new clinical procedures or routines is even more difficult. These changes cannot be executed intently but planned in a phased-out manner with the help of the healthcare consulting firm.

2. Communicate the need for the change
A major factor that decides the success or failure of hospital operations management is communication. The reason why most people resist change is due to ignorance. Communicate the need for change in the hospital among the staff. Hold an interactive session with the hospital staff seeking their opinions on the pros and cons of implementing the change.

3. Educate, enlighten, involve
The best way to execute a change in the hospital environment is by first educating the staff on the need for change. enlightening them on the reasons for the change and involving them in the process of change.
The right way to perform the above 3 steps would be to organize a presentation on the change process and present it to the team. The healthcare consulting firm can help you to organize and implement this effectively.

4. Invite participation
In a hospital environment, the process of change has to be executed smoothly and seamlessly. To ensure that no hiccups occur in the changing process, the whole process of change has to be implemented in a streamlined and focussed manner. This can be done by inviting participation from the hospital team, encouraging their involvement and then outlining their responsibilities and goals.

5. Give time
To succeed, every process must be time-bound. But you cannot afford to hasten the process of change, especially in a hospital.

Advocate that the change is with benefits
What concerns most hospital staff is "how the change will affect me?". There is a deep-rooted fear that the change may call for overburdening of tasks, change in hierarchy, loss of authority, and even loss of the job itself. It is the prime responsibility of the hospital operations management to reassure the staff and advocate that the "change is with benefits". The hospital operations management must highlight the benefits of change to seek support for the cause. The takeaways of change for the hospital and for the individuals must be clearly outlined in order to bring a positive approach among the staff towards the change.

6. Monitor the change
It is not enough for the hospital to just kick start the change process. It is more imperative that the change is monitored to see that the goals for which the change was intended are met. This monitoring can be done effectively only by a healthcare consulting firm.

7. Seek feedback
With the help of the healthcare consulting firm, the hospital operations management can compile a feedback form and enlist the feedback from the staff on the process of change.

Adapting to change is the need of the hour for every hospital. Only a competent healthcare consulting firm can steer the hospital business planning through the waters of change and chart its course to the destination of success.

Risk assessment, in simple words, can be defined as the process of evaluating the possible factors that could go wrong, if they do how badly? Identifying the hazards and recognizing the risk factors and the associated risks are the major tasks in risk assessment.

The assessment is instrumental in devising the risk management strategy which is the predefined plan that consists of the effective measures that need to be taken in the face of an issue or an accident. The strategy also explains that steps to stop them from occurring in the future.

Risk assessment is a continuous process and the preventive measures need to be evaluated on a regular basis. The guidelines can be revised or renewed based on the effectiveness of the solutions or guidelines.

All the factors – be it objects, equipment and building properties can be considered as risk factors based on the severity of harm that they could cause and the likelihood of occurrence. Here are 4 major types of risk factors that are typical of all hospitals.

Category-1:

Consists of risk factors that need to be constantly observed by a system that is highly functional.

Example – Storage of oxygen containers in the hospital premises, electrical equipment and other hazardous medical gases come under this category.

Solution – Monitoring each of these factors require dedicated individuals who are well-trained. Failure in managing this category might have dire consequences, including threat to lives of the patients and people in hospitals.

Category-2:

The risk factors could cause severe loss or damage to the health of the people or the hospital property but there will be no threat to the life.

Example – Equipment with high dependability and usability come under this category. Having only one source of electricity in hospitals and ineffective bio-wastage management system.

Solution – Relying on a specific method without any alternative can be risky in a hospital environment. Ensure there is a backup plan for the factors that fall under this category.

Category-3:

The risk factors can cause damage but it not a threat in any manner both to the people or to the infrastructure.

Example – Malfunctioning of the air conditioners, alarm system that is not working and reduced water supply to the building.

Solution – Even though the risk factors do not have any direct threat to the life, they could cause discomfort and bring bad reputation to the hospital. Have a backup plan for all the resources and equipment in hand.

Category-4:

Nowhere a threat to the lives of the patients or to the hospital reputation. Yet, they could not be ignored.

Example – Bottlenecks in the operations that have risen in the account of high-patient inflow or lack of resources.

Solution – Train your employees to handle the pressurized situations and carryout the operations with ease. Take advise from the professional healthcare consultancies on this front.

Effective risk assessment or management in hospitals can be challenging if there is no coordination between various stakeholders involved in hospital safety. Activity characterization, hazard identification and risk evaluation is a skill that is developed after years of observation and involvement in various hospital safety activities.

There are many healthcare consultancies that provide training to your employees in hospital risk management. You could also avail their services in assessing the risk factors and devising the risk management strategies.

Gone are the days when the doctor's words were considered to be from the unwritten Bible- to be heard and followed verbatim. Today's patients are more knowledgeable, aware and enlightened. They want to be fully conscious of their own health decisions. Welcome to the era of patient empowerment and consumerism in healthcare.

What is meant by "consumerism in healthcare"?

Consumerism in healthcare is an ideology that allows the patients to take their own healthcare decision consciously. It is a paradigm shift from following "the doctor's orders" to listening to "what the patient says/needs". It offers a working partnership between the physician and patient with the responsibility and commitment being shared equally by both. It fosters better physician-patient cooperation and promotes better medication adherence by the patients. With awareness mounting on the patient side, physicians are bound to be doubly careful in all the treatment decisions they take for the patient. On the other hand, patients have more responsibility toward maintaining their own health by adopting a healthier lifestyle.

What does consumerism in healthcare offer for the patient?

With healthcare digital consumerism, patients are exposed to a wider range of healthcare and hospital options via the internet, social media and mobile apps. They are also aware of the pros and con of each treatment procedure and are even well-informed about the operating procedure to the last detail. Patients hence have the liberty of "checking out" or "shopping around" for hospital or healing options to get the best treatment deals.
Secondly, patients have more exposure and access to medical insurance, health plans and retirement benefits. This offers them more purchasing power to select or shape healthcare services as per their budget and need.
Although healthcare consumerism statistics reveal that only 15% of the Indian population has health insurance, the recent health plan offered by the Indian government like Modicare or PMJAY-the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana aims at bringing at least half-a-billion people under insurance cover.
Consumerism in healthcare thus promises affordable and easily accessible healthcare options for the patients in India with the hope of a healthier tomorrow.

What does consumerism in healthcare signify for the hospitals?

This kind of supreme patient engagement importance offered by consumerism in healthcare force the hospital operations management to spruce up and improve its efficiency and service. Hospitals are forced to cut down on their in-patient, bed, and treatment costs while offering the same sterling service to the patients.
Consumerism in healthcare has made hospitals look for profitability not by merely charging patients but rather by cutting their overheads, inventory and wastage.
In order to sustain in the market, hospitals must employ healthcare digital consumerism to attract patients online through digital and social media marketing by offering them quality treatment plans at competitive pricing. To accomplish this, hospitals must engage the services of a proficient healthcare consulting firm to promote themselves.

The role of a healthcare consulting firm in healthcare digital consumerism

Patients today feel more empowered as healthcare consumers. They have a multitude of choices when it comes to choosing the hospital or treatment method. According to Mckinsey, the number of patients who were willing to receive treatment at retail clinics rose from 9% in 2013 to 24% in 2017. This kind of stiff competition necessitates the need for astute healthcare digital consumerism and this can be offered only by an experienced and expert healthcare consulting firm.
Clever strategizing, brand positioning and digital marketing are the tools employed by the healthcare consulting firm to promote the image of the hospital in the consumer's eyes.

Findings by Kaufmann-Hell indicate that

64% of the hospital consider digital tools to be the top priority in promoting healthcare consumerism.
Only 32% of the hospitals use customer segmentation while the rest still use traditional customer surveys.
Only 15% of the hospital have research specialists on their team to study consumer behaviour.

All the above findings confirm the need for a competent healthcare consulting firm in promoting healthcare consumerism.

With healthcare consumerism shifting the focus of hospitals to be more patient-centric, the hospital operations management of healthcare units has no choice but to enlist the services of able healthcare consulting firm to sustain and lead the healthcare market.

A hospital is not just a brick and mortar structure but a "home of healing". Patients come to hospitals to alleviate their trauma and cure their illnesses. The environment at the hospital must be congenial to facilitate healing and improve health. Much of this depends on the architecture of the hospital.

Yes, the importance of architecture in healthcare has been clearly established ages ago. In the 19th century, the famous "Lady with the Lamp" Florence Nightingale clearly emphasized the importance of physical elements like lighting and sound on an individual's health. Levi's "Stress theory" in 1972 clearly underlined the relationship between the structural component of a physical building and the human component of a patient's emotions. All this research just proves the fact that the health of the patients depends largely on the hospital's architectural design and environment.

The architectural elements of a building which govern the health of patients directly are air, light, greenery etc. Apart from this, new concepts called active design and resilient design have also emerged which also play a pivotal role in healthcare architecture.

The air inside a hospital premises is responsible for improving a patient's health or for inducing infections. Yes, most hospitals have close-walled, air-conditioned spaces that cause the stagnation of air. This stagnant air breeds microbes causing infections. A hospital's architectural design must make provision for "induced natural ventilation". Here air vents close to the ground allow cold air to enter and this pushes the warm air up and out of the building through openings positioned in the ceiling. Such induced natural ventilation provisions can be provided along the corridors and passageways where the patient traffic is considerable. Mechanical Cross-ventilation systems should be avoided at hospitals as they breed infections. For healthcare premises, natural ventilation is the best.

Lighting in a hospital governs the state of a patient's mind and health. Hospitals are usually well-lit to brighten the mood of the patients. But unfortunately, most of the light comes from artificial sources. Natural daylight has a therapeutic effect on patients with its high content of Vitamin D. Artificial daylight is also beneficial as it reduces sick days by reducing the cortisol levels but releases Greenhouse Gases. To prevent this, "green lighting" using LEDs is predominately used at hospitals.

Lighting design of a hospital should also mimic the natural "circadian rhythm" of the body. This is accomplished by using blue-enriched lighting during daytime to give the "daylight" effect. Specially-designed Skylights enable this and provide better sleep at night.

Solar lighting is also highly recommended for hospitals to conserve energy. Hospitals need electrical power 24x7 and conserving electricity through solar energy could result in considerable cost savings. The parking lots, rooftops and external walkways of a hospital can be installed with solar panels to generate electricity for lighting and heating water.

Windows are the eyes of a building and the breathing spaces of a hospital. Yes, windows not only allow fresh air and daylight to enter the hospital but also allow the patients to have a view of the greenery outside. Ulrich's study in 1984 proved that patients who were housed in rooms with windows overlooking greenery recuperated faster than the patients who had only a brick wall to look upon. Other research studies have also proved that patients in windowless rooms felt more depressed and aggressive as they feel deprived of sensory feelings. Hospitals must be designed with optimum usage of windows in a room to enhance the well-being of patients.

Greenery is the other element to be involved in hospital architecture. Green plants consume the toxic CO2 that humans exhale and release oxygen which is most needed for our respiration. They also provide a cooling effect on the hospital's atmosphere. Air-purifying plants also inhale the Greenhouse Gases and cleanse the atmosphere. This is why most hospitals prefer to be dotted with green plants inside and are landscaped with greenery outside to provide a congenial atmosphere for healing.

Active design is a new concept of architecture which has found popularity with hospitals This design is based on the increased use of active spaces where mobility is a must. Yes, hospitals are now being designed to accommodate staircases, pathways, walking and cycling trails where physical activity is a must. This design intends to enhance the physical mobility of all doctors, nurses, hospital staff and even patient attendees to help them adopt an active lifestyle by burning calories.

Resilient design is a form of architectural design that has emerged recently to combat natural disasters. Yes, hospitals must be designed architecturally to be ever-ready for natural calamities like storms, earthquake, hurricanes etc. This resilient design involves meticulous planning and strategies to safeguard both patients and hospital staff and equipment during emergencies. One strategy is to keep the ICU, operating theatres and other critical patient zones off flood limits. The other is to ensure that the hospital is never cut-off from electrical power even during emergencies. Providing resources for ventilation is also critical in times of emergency and this is part of the resilient design plan.

Hospitals are moving towards the "green hospital " design which is modelled on conserving natural resources like water and sunlight and minimizing the harmful hazards of hospital supplies and waste. Green hospitals justify their CSR-Corporate Social responsibility in keeping the environment clean and this enhances their respect and reputation.

Architecture plays a pivotal role in healthcare and every hospital should realize this and make "green architecture" their foremost priority in delivering patient care.

More details @ www.frontenders.in

Building a Healthcare Business Plan is an intricate and complex process as it involves multiple tasks in a cohesive team. This team has the vital responsibility of carefully balancing the needs of the clinical users and the clients of the healthcare project. Therefore they need the expertise and support of Healthcare Consulting Firms for

Understanding and interpreting the realities of the design and construction process
Meeting the budgetary constraints
Evaluating healthcare technology for the best possible patient outcomes

Medical Equipment Planning (MEP) forms an integral part of this process and the demand for it is rising by the day thanks to the voluminous surge in the number of healthcare services and hospitals. This necessitates the specialised knowledge of the clinical requirements, budgeting, architectural design and building process. That is because medical equipment is useful in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and follow-up of several ailments. They may be classified as

Diagnostic equipment such as X-Ray, Endoscope, ECG Machines, MRI, PET and CT scanners
Therapeutic Equipment including Lasers, Electrosurgical Units, Pacemakers, Infusion Pumps and machinery for Short Wave Diathermy.

The effective sustenance of every hospital or healthcare facility is dependent on the essential and basic functioning of its clinical equipment. Irrespective of the diversity in the range and utility of the equipment (starting from simple hospital beds to complicated imaging scanners), each of them have their own importance. Since clinical equipment is a major constituent of the total project cost but has high depreciation rates, selecting, procuring and maintaining it assumes high significance particularly in hospital management projects.

Need for MEP

Choosing the right equipment with sufficient servicing and back-up facilities is critical for high quality and uninterrupted patient care.
Equipment selection is dependent on the patient volume to be handled as there are remarkable price differences in each of its variants. Other factors to be considered in choosing these clinical devices include the type of healthcare service to be provided, the extent of disease burden in the primary and secondary catchment areas and financial budgeting.
Doing regular maintenance and upkeep, audit and training of medical staff for using the medical equipment is an important part of hospital operations.
The productivity of the new equipment needs to be analyzed in terms of demand for service, cost, volume, operational efficiency, quality and return on investment
MEP is a multi-faceted process that involves the collaboration of various stakeholders in the healthcare arena including clinicians, chief operating officer, biomedical staff, procurement team and finance department.
Selection of vendor for buying the equipment is also important and is dependent on multiple parameters including offers available, track record and past experiences of the vendor and their product installation base.
Healthcare organizations must adhere to certain quality norms and manufacturer guidelines for designing the required infrastructure and room layout for medical equipment.

Role of Consultants in MEP

Assessment of installation site for equipment and planning
Managing financial aspects including budgeting and costing
Preparing functional and detailed specifications
Doing a detailed techno-commercial analysis for weighing the pros and cons of prospective equipment deal
Participating in the vendor evaluation and selection process
Procuring, installing and commissioning the medical equipment
Providing assistance in the maintenance and repair contract procedures including buying the Annual Maintenance Contract(AMC)
Aiding in the decommissioning and safe disposal of the equipment when required
Executing checks on infrastructure adequacy
Integrating the medical equipment with healthcare information technology and facilitating training

There are several reputed Hospital Consultants in India who, with their expertise and experience in strategy, facility planning, technology and operations, can support the MEP activity to seamlessly translate the hospital goals into realistic, viable, and flexible clinical solutions to facilitate quality patient care.

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Navigation

Estimated Growth of the Indian Healthcare Market

Skills Required in a Strategic Manager

Medical Tourism - Boon or Bane

A Healthy Organizational Change: An Essential Overview

Importance of Risk Assessment in Hospitals – Everything You Need to Know

Category-1:

Category-2:

Category-3:

Category-4:

Consumerism in Healthcare

Importance of Architecture in Health

Need of Healthcare Consultants for Equipment Planning

Instagram