By Larry Hertzler

Hospitals continue to face twin pressures: finances and workforce. ACHE’s 2024 “Top Issues” survey found financial and staffing challenges tied as CEOs’ top concerns, while AHA’s Costs of Caring report showed labor now approaches 60% of operating expenses, with $51.1 billion spent on contract staff in 2023. Those realities make it harder to sustain coverage for biomedical and imaging fleets during peak demand.

Many organizations are turning to on-demand, rapid-response healthcare technology management (HTM) teams. These temporary, vendor-neutral surge resources integrate with in-house clinical engineering and third party agreements to reduce downtime, normalize preventive maintenance (PM), and preserve compliance. They don’t replace existing service models, they supplement them, offering a flexible, standards-aligned option when demand spikes.
AAMI recognizes HTM professionals as central to ensuring the safety, security, and functionality of medical devices. On-demand surge or jump teams extend that mission by handling defined workloads, PM backlogs, physical inventories, or corrective repairs, while documenting directly in the hospital’s CMMS to maintain configuration control, audit readiness and expedite handoffs.

When surge capacity makes sense
Triggers for deploying surge HTM are consistent across sites:

● PM backlog exceeds policy thresholds, especially before Joint Commission, DNV, or HFAP windows.
● Excessive corrective work order backlogs threaten patient care schedules.
● PTO, training, or vacancies stretch in-house coverage and drive overtime.
● Construction or new equipment go-lives compress maintenance schedules.
● Seasonal surges, such as flu season, overwhelm normal capacity.
● Fiscal year transitions where budgets reset or funds must be spent.

These conditions often converge, creating compliance and operational risk that a short-term, external team can relieve.

What the first 48 hours look like
Experts described a consistent onboarding rhythm for a temporary engagement. In order to expedite kickoff and integration, credentialing and background checks are completed before arrival.

● Day 1: introductions to HTM leadership and clinical areas; access, safety, and IT briefings.
● Day 2: technicians begin full scope, with daily check-ins and end-of-day reports.
○ In many cases, the full scope can begin on day 1.

Following the rapid onboarding, integration steps continue with weekly client-facing updates summarizing hours, completed work and next steps. Throughout an engagement, work is typically logged directly in the hospital’s CMMS, to preserve service history. Parts and procurement typically flow through the hospital’s own systems, ensuring traceability and compliance. This approach eliminates “shadow records” and makes handoff seamless.

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