Planning equipment acquisitions

As the mire of healthcare reform continues to grow, many providers are developing an insatiable appetite for alternatives to the way they currently do business. For some, solutions come in the form of repackaging the same old stuff. Others have jumped recklessly into every managed, capitated, or reformed idea that has come along. Old-school thinkers are still awaiting government direction. Providers of quality healthcare face increasing demands on their shrinking capital funds. An aging population, indigent care, AIDS patients, medical waste disposal, nursing shortages, declining reimbursement, increasing labor costs, and the federal healthcare reform threat have negatively affected cash flow. Though previous cost-plus reimbursement encouraged wasteful spending, the threat of healthcare reform has already caused providers and suppliers alike to work together to cut costs even without government mandates. The impact has been the closure of over 600 facilities nationwide in the past ten years. More than 70,000 acute care hospital beds have been lost from the US healthcare system. Many healthcare facilities have merged into managed care systems, integrated delivery networks, and regional alliances whose costs can be consolidated and controlled. At the same time, new services and profit centers are also being created to increase revenue. A healthcare moves into alternative care environments--home care, ambulatory care, diagnostic testing--these providers need more capital equipment to serve an increased patient load. Coupled with an aging installed base of technology in the acute care environment, healthcare managers face an ever-growing need for capital equipment and creative financing programs to meet longer payment options.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)