Cost analysis of equipment failure of a radiology department and possible choices about maintenance.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to evaluate the economic impact of equipment failures in a radiology department with a view to guiding maintenance policy decisions.


METHODS
We assessed the negative economic impact caused by the interruption of activity of a radiodiagnostics section due to equipment failure, taking into account: the effects occurring during the first day of equipment down-time (assuming that the equipment failure occurs in the middle of the shift) and the effects during the following days until the repair of the failure; the effects occurring in the short- and long-term. To exemplify the negative impact of inactivity due to equipment failure, we chose three radiology sections with different levels of technological and operational complexity (chest radiology, gastrointestinal radiology and remote-controlled diagnostics). For each, we evaluated the loss of contribution margin and the idle capacity costs (short- and long-term impact).


RESULTS
The negative economic effects were: for thoracic radiology, 496,77 Euro in the first day, and 30,99 Euro from the second day onwards; for gastrointestinal radiology, 526,40 Euro for the first day, and 730,39 Euro from the second day onwards; for remote-controlled diagnostics, 786,25 Euro for the first day, and 927,67 Euro from the second days onwards.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the level of idle capacity costs (mainly equipment and staff) increases with the complexity of the equipment, whereas the contribution margin appears to fluctuate, because the charges are state-imposed and do not vary with the complexity of equipment. Moreover, our analysis shows that if the workload of a broken machine can easily be assigned to an additional shift using another machine, losses are considerably reduced from the second day onwards. Once the negative economic impact of equipment failures has been evaluated, the second step is to choose the best kind of maintenance.


CONCLUSIONS
A sound calculation of the economic impact of equipment failures is very useful for guiding the head of department and the hospital manager in deciding whether to purchase maintenance services (or a long-term guarantee) from the equipment manufacturer, to set up an auxiliary centre for maintenance and repair, or to purchase a third-party maintenance contract.
Grisi
Guido
G
Dipartimento di Economia e Tecnica Aziendale, Università di Triste, Italy.
Dalla Palma
Ludovico
L
Rimondini
Allesandra
A
Palmolungo
Chiara
C
Cuttin Zernich
Roberto
R
Pozzi Mucelli
Roberto
R
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004868:Equipment Failure / Q000191:economics; D006282:Health Personnel; D007558:Italy; D008283:Maintenance / Q000191:economics; D011871:Radiology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics*