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Technological developments and approaches to improving service quality
1D. F. Blumberg & Associates, Inc., Fort Washington, PA 19034, USA.
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology
|March 6, 1999
Summary
Healthcare technology service organizations must adopt new strategies and technologies to improve efficiency and profitability. Re-engineering service processes and leveraging advanced systems are crucial for meeting evolving demands in the healthcare industry.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Technology Management
- Service Operations Management
- Information Technology in Healthcare
Background:
- The healthcare industry is undergoing significant changes impacting technology maintenance and support.
- Service organizations face increasing demands for rapid, efficient, and productive technology support within healthcare delivery networks.
- Traditional service delivery approaches are inadequate for the current healthcare environment's structural realities and service requirements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how new technologies and re-engineered service processes can enhance profitability, efficiency, and productivity in healthcare technology service organizations.
- To identify new strategies and tactics necessary to meet the evolving service demands of the healthcare sector.
- To provide insights into adopting best practices from high-tech industries for improved healthcare service delivery.
Main Methods:
- Review of current service operations and customer environment perceptions.
- Identification of state-of-the-art service and infrastructure systems and technology.
- Evaluation of best practices from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Independent Service Organizations (ISOs) in medical electronics, IT, and telecommunications.
Main Results:
- New technologies offer significant improvements in profitability, efficiency, and productivity for healthcare technology service organizations.
- Re-engineering service processes is often a requirement for realizing maximum benefits from new technologies.
- Adopting best practices from other high-tech industries can lead to improved service quality, productivity, and efficiency.
Conclusions:
- New technology is essential for competing in the healthcare technology service market and significantly impacts profitability.
- Efficiently operated biomedical personnel can achieve higher utilization and profitability than OEMs due to lower overhead.
- Implementing new processes and technologies, coupled with user education, leads to quantifiable improvements in service quality, productivity, and profitability.