Clinical Engineering Benchmarking: An Analysis of American Acute Care Hospitals

Operational and financial clinical engineering (CE) data from 253 acute care hospitals were analyzed for indicators that are statistically valid and useful for measuring, monitoring, and improving performance. The sample is mostly composed of nonprofit public and religious hospitals and is evenly distributed among major and minor teaching hospitals and nonteaching institutions. Almost all CE departments manage all biomedical equipment and provide technology management support, but only some manage imaging, laboratory, nonmedical devices, and beds. Clinical engineering departments typically use 2.5 full-time-equivalent employees per 100 staffed beds or 1 full-time-equivalent employee per 4000 adjusted discharges. Administrative support is available only at large departments. Most of the CE budget is typically spent on service contracts, whereas approximately 20% is dedicated to internal labor. One scheduled maintenance and 1 repair are typically performed per capital device per year. Although the ratio of total CE expense and total equipment acquisition costs was confirmed to be a good indicator at around 4%, several other denominators also emerged as valid and, perhaps, even more widely available for comparisons, for example, staffed beds, adjusted discharges, and number of capital devices. Overall, CE budget is around 0.5% of the hospital's total operating budget. Because of uneven data quality and impossibility of validation, each indicator should not be used individually for precise benchmarking. On the other hand, when used together, multiple indicators provide not only valuable ballpark comparisons but also insights into deviations that warrant further investigation for potential uniqueness and/or improvement opportunities.