Tech Knowledge Associates
The hospital industry is extremely over-dependent on costly service contracts, at costs typically 8-10 times those of factory-trained staff performing the same services. Renegotiations of legacy service contracts can move providers away from third party arrangements. Over the past decade, industry-leading clinical engineering programs have begun to shift to an in-sourced, centralized deliver model, eliminating unnecessary challenges created by inconsistencies due to inefficiency, lack of coordination and scale, over-reliance on outside services and technology gaps. Tech Knowledge Associates, LLC (TKA) was created to centralize the clinical engineering functions and convert the cost centers at various hospitals to a centralized revenue-generating scalable business model.
TKA serves multiple health systems across the western United States and Texas. Self insurance arrangements via an aggregated risk pool have been developed to leverage and smooth time and material repair/service costs, and to minimize exposure to lump costs. Scale associated with capital planning and asset/parts procurement can be effectively coordinated leveraging the volume of each of our member systems to manage risk.
TKA is centrally managed under the Innovative Institute leadership with a regionally and locally deployed operating structure now in place for Northern and Southern California as well as Texas. Its executive leadership and headquarters are located in La Palma, California. Regional Directors report to the National Director while overseeing operations within their respective regions. They are supported by Account Directors who are responsible for the individual hospitals/ministries, as well as the associated ministry/hospital and regional staff.
Additional Regional Field Service teams comprised of imaging, lab, anesthesia and other specialty technicians, travel within the regions to repair and maintain complex equipment. Resident staff at the hospitals include Biomedical Technicians and Administrative Coordinators. The central office team in La Palma provides financial support, data analytics and expertise, and strategic leadership. All National, Regional and local level staffing is adjusted based on needs and demands.
Learn more about TKA at www.ii-techknow.com
Clinical Engineering & Biomedical Services
Acquired February 2012
Core Business
- Elevate clinical engineering through innovative management programs, medical equipment life cycle solutions, and medical device service data.
- A centralized, revenue-generating, and scalable business model bringing greater efficiency and coordination to hospitals’ equipment and clinical engineering programs.
Products & Services
- Preventative maintenance and repair services for all in-scope clinical engineering equipment.
- Handle operations of hospitals’ biomedical departments, including service contracts.
- Establishing and maintaining a comprehensive inventory database of all medical equipment to coordinate activities and ensure regulatory compliance.
Value Proposition
- Drive higher service quality through an insourced, centralized delivery model.
- Assume risk for high cost medical device repairs while capping customer expenses based on Cost to Value model.
- Provide customers with access to extensive data and expertise on cost, performance, features and functions of all medical equipment.
Key Factors
- The hospital industry is overly dependent on costly service contracts, often costing 8-10x more than hiring factory-trained staff performing the same services.
- Converting to in-sourced programs provides significant savings while focusing on quality, regulatory compliance, staff development, and cultural integration in the client’s healthcare environment.
