by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | August 08, 2017
From the August 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“The clearest benefit of shifting from an ad hoc capital strategy to the predictability of an MES is certainly the stabilization of a facility’s capital, operational and cash flow structures,” Stewart says.
Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif.
Contracts as partnerships
Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif., considers its recent 15-year MES contract with Philips Healthcare a strategic partnership. In January 2016, the facility entered into the relationship in advance of a new hospital set to open in 2020 that would replace the majority of its 176 beds and include a new diagnostic imaging suite and interventional labs.
The contract includes the purchase of more than $30 million worth of equipment for the new building, upgrading equipment before the transition to the new facility and a technology plan through 2030. There is also an on-site services tech from Philips who reports to an on-site service manager, as well as training on new equipment for radiologic technologists and lean process training to improve workflow.
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Mark Zielazinski, chief
information and technology
integration officer at
Marin General Hospital
“We’re looking to be as quick and nimble yet as strategic as we can be while being cost efficient,” says Mark Zielazinski, chief information and technology integration officer at Marin General Hospital. “It allowed us to solve our problems for the new building and also provided a way to help us immediately.”
Zielazinski says the contract is a true partnership.
“They were picking us as much as we were picking them,” Zielazinski says.
While there were a few physicians who were skeptical of the contract, mainly because they have a preference for a particular manufacturer’s equipment, Zielazinski says they’re now converts.
GE’s Stewart notes that it is important for different stakeholders within a health system to be involved in the process.
PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg, Penn.
“It is often believed that the MES is an off-the-shelf product,” Stewart says. “The MES solution is a flexible and fully customized structure, but to be properly deployed, an internal alignment needs to take place. GE works together with all the stakeholders to make sure the added value of MES is fully understood and in line with the outcome a facility is trying to achieve.”
