Assessing equipment repair and asset management.

As reimbursement continues to decline, healthcare managers are now forced to seek out and establish alternative means for ensuring optimal patient care delivery via maximized equipment uptimes, minimized downtimes, increased productivity and decreased expenses. And, while our benchmarking survey documented manufacturers' service contracts as the "best practice" for repair of equipment in radiation oncology, this method was also identified as the most costly. As a result, serious consideration must be given to alternate methods, irrespective of advantages and disadvantages. As a new industry-wide product, asset management is still another viable method and alternative for consideration with regard to equipment maintenance and repair.