An Innovative Methodology for Cost Optimization of the Maintenance of Medical Devices

The growing obsolescence of medical equipments in industrialized countries - despite of a continuously increasing expenditure for management and maintenance - causes high safety risks, high dissatisfaction and inefficiency. Maintenance has, thus, become an essential competitive factor in modern and advanced health systems, for reasons of safety and service efficiency. The design and transfer of innovative maintenance models and methodologies, typical of Industry, are, therefore, urgent. In this paper, we analyze cost optimization models for maintenance in industrial sectors, drawing conclusions on their applicability in the healthcare sector. The analysis is done with reference to a specific medical device – the ultrasound –, chosen because of its high diffusion and intensive use, high supply costs and high complexity of maintenance. As a result of the analysis, we identify a specific methodology as feasible for the task and propose a novel updating to fit the particular needs and constraints of the healthcare sector. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015