Delivering Long-Term Benefits for Riverside Health's Clinical Engineering Needs

“Crothall’s Healthcare Technology Solutions team immediately understood our needs, developed a plan to staff our facilities, and set up an inventory management program for all medical devices. Their thorough, methodical process and skills not only helped us with a DNV survey, but has given us the confidence that they will continue to provide our patients and staff with the highest level of service possible.”
— Thomas McVey, Director of Operations/ Logistics Supply Chain, Riverside Health System

Number of Facilities: Four Acute Care hospitals. Three specialty hospitals. 64 satellite facilities
Location: Southeastern Virginia
Number of Assets: 24,000 Medical Devices
A coverage area of 8,000 square miles

Opportunities
In early 2022, Riverside Health began considering the hiring of a new service provider to improve its clinical engineering program. The health system needed immediate help in preparing for a DNV accreditation survey. Riverside also needed to identify and create a service delivery plan for all of its medical devices and tackle any potential “open” work orders. And it wanted assurances that a new provider could deliver a strong management team, hire top-notch biomedical technicians, and quickly implement a plan to meet its goals.

Solution 1: A 90-Day Transition Plan
The implementation team developed a detailed project plan mapping out its process and a timetable to service the hospital’s
inventory of medical devices.
By meeting key goals and milestones within 90 days, Riverside would be prepared for its DNV survey.
Daily calls with key hospital stakeholders to provide status updates on the inventory process and review any critical issues.
After completing the inventory process, the team continued to meet weekly to prepare for the upcoming DNV survey.

Result: 0 Findings. DNV Accreditation Survey Success.
Just 82 days after Riverside chose Crothall’s HTS program, the health system was ready for its DNV survey. The survey was completed in September with no findings.

Solution 2: Onboard an Experienced Management Team, Technical Staff
Crothall performed a comprehensive workforce analysis to design the optimum staff size based on several factors: preventive
maintenance requirements, corrective maintenance requirements, and internal/external benchmarks.
An organizational structure was designed to assure complete staffing coverage at all facilities, including:
• Dedicated technician for Riverside’s Operating Room department
• Two technicians assigned to work full time at Riverside Shore Memorial in Onancock, Va., which is 94 miles north of Newport
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Result: 14-person Team Hired. Timeline Smashed.
All were hired before the “go-live” date, demonstrating Crothall’s ability to meet Riverside’s timetable and recruit talented local and out-of-state job candidates in a difficult labor market.
This team includes a highly skilled clinical engineering director with 17 years of experience who has previously overseen 12 separate DNV surveys.
Crothall also hired three technicians from the previous staff based on recommendations from hospital managers.

Solution 3: Complete Inventory Management Program
The medical device inventory supplied during the Request for Proposal process was used as a baseline to validate during the
onsite inventory.
Customized dashboards enable key stakeholders to effortlessly track performance and monitor the status and location of all
medical devices.

Result: 24,000 Devices Verified. Complete Inventory Visibility in 60 Days.
Within two months, Riverside gained clear visibility into the full medical equipment inventory on hand. This process included identifying, photographing, and standardizing the devices to ECRI nomenclature.
All open work orders were reviewed and serviced.