From the August 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Once a contrast injector system is designed for connected field service, many new opportunities arise for the remote service of an institution’s devices, including:
• Remote software updates.
• Customer request for service directly from the medical device.
• Device manufacturer alerts.
• Remote diagnostics and troubleshooting.
• Remotely fixing the device.
• Predictive analytics.
Ad Statistics
Times Displayed: 19605
Times Visited: 366 Stay up to date with the latest training to fix, troubleshoot, and maintain your critical care devices. GE HealthCare offers multiple training formats to empower teams and expand knowledge, saving you time and money
Service delivery and informatics
Service delivery, which now includes remote service capabilities, is an important part of the design of radiology medical devices for many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are committed to maximum uptime and maximum performance of their products. Not only are the device manufacturers developing internal systems for parts replacement and maintenance, informatics is an increasingly important feature for these devices, including service informatics.
Service informatics includes capabilities such as remote diagnostics, remote update of cybersecurity patches, predictive analytics and customer usage patterns. With service informatics capabilities, the OEM’s service organization can identify how customers are using the medical devices. For example, if a new feature of a contrast injection system is released, the OEM of a smart connected device has the capability to identify if the new feature is being used and how it is being used. With this information we can tell if a customer was trained correctly or needs more training on the new functionality of their contrast injection system and offer customers additional support.
The health care industry is rapidly adopting the digital transformation that other industries have been taking advantage of for years. When making medical device acquisitions for the radiology suite, administrators are factoring in the informatics functionality of contrast injection systems and are updating their operations with the latest smart connected contrast injectors that offer informatics connectivity to other hospital systems and connected field service as well as service informatics. Medical devices are being developed with serviceability and human factors engineering in mind. For the radiology suite, this means maximum uptime with the goal of uninterrupted patient care.
About the author:
Barry Skirble is the head of the Informatics Platform organization in Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ radiology business where he is responsible for the development of the informatics platform, including the service technology applications. He has more than 30 years of experience specializing in software engineering, information technology, health care information security, network systems, remote connectivity and managing technology.
Skirble is also a published author. Drawn to his hospital automation experience in asset management systems, robotics delivery systems, RFID and HIPAA regulations, he’s often asked to speak at health care information technology conferences. Prior to joining Bayer, Skirble served as the chief information officer/vice president of software engineering of Aethon Inc., chief information officer/security officer at McKesson Automation and chief technology officer of Four Rivers Software Systems. Skirble holds three patents in robotics and RFID technologies.
Back to HCB News
