Comments on the 24×7 website for the last two weeks have focused on preventive maintenance (PM) procedures and policies. Although published two months ago, an article by Stephen Grimes and Jillyan Morano, “How the Medical Equipment Management Landscape Will Change in 2015,” continues to inspire reader feedback. James B called it a “great article” on the new CMS maintenance policies. He added that “I have two Philips Xper Cath Labs and … will probably pay Philips to show me how to complete an ‘official’ PM. I have been using AEM [alternate equipment maintenance] strategy until now and have been confident in the system performance and safety.”

Vendor Inventories and CMS

Another comment on the Grimes and Morano article focused on the authors’ statement that “The new rules don’t require the use of one common inventory, but only that all inventories be available in one location, on demand.” Chris H. asked, “Does this mean that if we have a vendor that supplies rental or leased equipment, instead of adding all of that equipment into one common database, we would be meeting the regulation if we had access to the vendor’s database from our biomed department and could pull up the inventory on demand?”

According to Stephen Grimes, the answer is yes: “You can use a rental/leasing vendor’s on-line database. However it is also important to remember that, to be compliant with CMS and accreditation standards, any separate inventory used must not only be available on demand, but must also identify any equipment that has been evaluated as ‘high risk/critical’ as well as any equipment for which an AEM approach has been adopted.”

Battery Testing

In response to an April article by Drew Johnston, “How to Build Your Own Battery Testing Station,” Doug Fletcher commented, “I searched the Inspired Energy website and could not find where they offer either the Philips VS3 vital signs monitor battery or battery charger/analyzer for purchase. The VS3 battery is 11.1 volts, and looks identical to the 10.8 volt Philips IntelliVue MP series monitor batteries.”

In reply, Johnston said, “We use the 10.8V battery that is used in the MP series. If you measure one of the Philips OEM 10.8Vdc batteries, you will measure, at full charge, anywhere from 11.1 to 12+Vdc. We had ordered VS3 batteries from other battery vendors in the past and they were selling us the 10.8Vdc batteries as well…. Dave Baggaley [a past 24×7 author] is a wonderful resource to talk to at Inspired. They have quite a few different battery variations that are not on the website.”