Forum on Supportability of Healthcare TechnologyThe AAMI has announced that its Forum on Supportability of Healthcare Technology, held November 2–3, 2015, was a success. The goal of the forum was to bring together a group of healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals and device manufacturers to create a roadmap for solving issues of supportability.

AAMI reports that more than 30 stakeholders representing HTM, industry, regulatory bodies, academic institutions, and others attended the interactive meeting, presenting their supportability concerns and working toward a framework for developing solutions.

“We’ve never held an event like this before,” said Patrick Bernat, director of HTM at AAMI. “For so long, supportability issues have been the elephant in the room between the HTM community and manufacturers. The fact that this many people committed to being here is tremendous.”

During the first half of the forum, the group divided along professional lines to identify the most pressing issues they wished to address during the meeting. HTM professionals reportedly highlighted the importance of training, medical device design, and the availability of service resources, while manufacturers highlighted the need for clearly defined responsibilities and minimum competency verification. According to AAMI, views of the issues differed, but everyone in the room agreed that patient safety was the driving force for finding solutions.

Bernat noted that the forum was a good opportunity to get people to talk face to face, and the discussions of the key issues revealed that there were more areas of agreement than most people had anticipated.

AAMI reports that the information and ideas collected during the supportability forum will be compiled into a report that will be released before the end of the year. This report is intended to serve as a roadmap for all stakeholders, and to guide future supportability initiatives. For more information about the forum, visit the AAMI website.