Tag: Jim Worrell
Equipment Maintenance: Know when to scrap it
August 12, 2020Jim Worrell
Q. How do I know when it's time to retire equipment?A. Given the high initial cost, combined with high maintenance costs of respiratory equipment, the decision to repair or retire a specific asset can have a large impact on a company's bottom line. Here are some of the key items to consider when making that decision:1. Age of the equipment: This speaks to both its useful life (in terms of years and operating hours), as well as the depreciation value. With five-year depreciation schedules, the...
Equipment maintenance: Focus on these key metrics
July 9, 2020Jim Worrell
Q. What are the key metrics for respiratory equipment management?A. Most companies serving respiratory patients have hundreds-of-thousands of dollars tied up in their equipment fleet. Proper management of this fleet of ventilators, O2 concentrators, PAP, humidifiers, apnea monitors, etc., can often mean a substantial improvement in operating profits.Of the many metrics involved in respiratory equipment management, which ones are the most important metrics to meaure? Given limited space, let's begin...
Equipment maintenance: Reduce service, 'touches'
June 10, 2020Jim Worrell
Q. What are the best ways to reduce the cost of maintaining equipment?
A. Providers of respiratory equipment recognize the significant revenue opportunities that come with this line of business. They also recognize, sometimes with surprise, the equally significant expenses involved with keeping their fleet of respiratory equipment in clean, patient-ready condition.
Here are five lessons we have learned in years of working with providers of respiratory equipment.
Maintain PM schedules. Much...
Equipment Maintenance: Calculate hidden costs
May 13, 2020Jim Worrell
Q. What are the hidden costs of DIY respiratory equipment service?
A. When you think about servicing your ventilators in-house, O2 concentrators and other respiratory equipment, it seems pretty simple and cost-effective. Just hire a few technicians, order the parts, put them to work and voila! You saved the expense of sending your equipment to an outside service provider.
When you begin to examine the not-so-obvious expenses related to performing these services, you may decide after all to...
Best practices for respiratory management
May 5, 2020Guest Commentary
Proper management of respiratory equipment is one of the most overlooked and underserved areas of your business, potentially “leaking” tens of thousands of dollars (or more) per year.Know your assetsI'm constantly surprised at how many HME companies do not know the status of their fleet of respiratory equipment. Simple questions such as: How many concentrators/vents/POCs do you have? Where are they? When were they last serviced? What are the PM due dates? Many companies rely on spreadsheets...