Medical equipment typically accounts for 30 to 40 percent of the overall project costs. It’s critical that this portion of the project be effectively managed. Otherwise, key elements can be overlooked, resulting in costly redesign work.

Rapid advancements in medical technology make it challenging for hospital staff to stay on top of the latest developments. An independent equipment planner has an objective perspective and can offer insights that result in making better-informed decisions.

FDI recommends involving the equipment planning firm as soon as you hire an architect or design/build firm. That way the equipment planner can participate in the early stages of the design phase. Hiring an equipment planner early can help enhance the design process, minimize costly mistakes and support a realistic equipment budget.

It requires significant resources to adequately manage the equipment planning process and many organizations simply don’t have those internal resources available.

An equipment planning firm can offer insight into best practices and evidence-based data to which many hospitals may not have access. This can help streamline the evaluation and selection process.

There are several criteria to consider when selecting an equipment planning firm:

• Experience – how long has the company been in business?
• Relevant project experience and expertise
• Size of the professional staff and depth of knowledge
• Sophistication of in-house planning tools
• Ability to proactively facilitate the evaluation and selection process
• Financial strength
• Client references
• Culture fit with your organization