Ensure someone in-house at least monitors medical equipment maintenance
From an empirical standpoint, each department with medical equipment being maintained by contract should have an inventory and be able to quantify compliance with whatever preventive maintenance sequence is identified.
The Joint Commission grants a lot of leeway in letting you determine how you’re going to carry this out, but there is an expectation that at some point, every device in the medical equipment management program is accounted for through a central clearinghouse.
That clearinghouse can be clinical engineering, a subcommittee of the environment of care committee, or the EC committee itself.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro. He brings 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Briefings on Hospital Safety. Contact Steve at 
