A new perspective on clinical technology management

In 1996 Intermountain Health Care (IHC) launched an endeavor for the development of a strategy that would provide a systematic management of its assets, specifically, clinical equipment. The scope would be enterprise wide and would focus on the 6 diverse elements of the "Equipment Life Cycle." These elements include: planning, assessment, acquisition, utilization, maintenance, and disposition. This endeavor resulted in the deployment of Clinical Technology Management (CTM). This article addresses the development of the concepts and methods used to organize CTM in 1996 and the subsequent refinements for the past 6 years and in its entirety, this article is a mere summary of thousands of hours of work for 6 years.