Navigating Asset Management in Healthcare: CMMS vs. EAM

For a healthcare system, efficient asset management can be a deciding factor in providing quality patient care. Two software tools for asset management are Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM).

While it may at first appear that these terms are interchangeable, understanding the distinctions between CMMS vs EAM is paramount for optimal operational performance and determining the right fit for your organization.

CMMS: Essential Functionalities in Healthcare Maintenance

A CMMS plays a crucial role in healthcare facilities and HTM by focusing on the maintenance aspects of assets. In a hospital setting, where medical equipment must be in top condition to ensure it’s ready for use at any given moment, a streamlined, easy-to-use CMMS is invaluable. Here are some key aspects of a CMMS in healthcare:

• Medical Equipment Maintenance: A CMMS is key for managing the maintenance of medical devices, ensuring they are functioning correctly and meeting regulatory standards.
• Work Order Efficiency: Ensure all PMs are scheduled and work orders tracked in your CMMS. Your team can reduce downtime and enhance patient care by efficiently managing work orders for routine maintenance, repairs, and inspections.
• Regulatory Compliance: A CMMS helps healthcare systems adhere to strict regulations by providing a systematic approach to record-keeping and maintenance documentation.
• Materials Management: A CMMS aids in managing spare parts and materials for work orders, preventing shortages and ensuring commonly used parts are always available.

EAM: Broad Healthcare Asset Management

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) centralizes data related to the lifecycle of each asset maintained by a healthcare facility. An EAM provides a healthcare system with a robust system to manage every aspect of its assets, including:

• Lifecycle Management: EAM assists in managing the complete lifecycle of assets, from installation to ongoing maintenance and eventual end of life procedures.
• Budget Planning: EAM helps healthcare institutions plan and allocate budgets effectively, considering all aspects of asset acquisition, maintenance, and condition history.
• Risk Assessment: In the healthcare sector, risk management is paramount. EAM allows hospitals to assess and lower risks associated with equipment failure, ensuring the delivery of quality patient care.

An All-in-One Solution for Healthcare Professionals

For healthcare systems, the choice between CMMS and EAM depends on the scale of operations, number of assets, and your organization’s objectives. For most large healthcare systems, it’s imperative to have a tool that is built for both maintenance functionalities and asset management. Therefore, finding a tool that blends aspects of a CMMS and EAM together could be the most practical.

Benefits of an all-in-one solution:

• Reduce Costs for Having Two Separate Systems: Rather than having a software tool for managing your assets and another for scheduling maintenance, having one robust solution that specializes in both is more cost effective.
• Data Lives in One Place: Interweave asset data with information related to productivity and maintenance management for more holistic analytics.
• Beyond Simple Asset Management: Today there are solutions that feature modules that go beyond basic work order and asset management capabilities, offering detailed data and analytics dashboards and capital allocation tools.
• Continuous Enhancements: While a basic CMMS or EAM might not receive regular releases or enhancements, robust solutions that continuously innovate offer more features and regularly improve for ease of use.

FSI’s CMS product suite offers capabilities typically featured in both CMMS and EAM. With robust work order and asset management functionalities, as well as tools like CMS Capital Planning for asset lifecycle management and allocation, CMS products aim to equip healthcare systems with every software tool they need for the success of facilities and HTM operations.

“Every day, CMS tells us what to do,” explains Courtney Haschke, Biomedical Supervisor and Baptist St. Anthony’s. “We have it set up where every asset has a procedure attached to it and it generates reports monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually, however we have it set up. We're able to go in there and see what we have left and what needs to be accomplished in the remaining days of the month. I mean, running 10,000 assets is a lot for 12 people and CMS really keeps us on track.”

But CMS not only helps BSA manage assets, it also helps the team stay on top of work orders and maintenance.

“I'm constantly running numbers and completion rates. Without having to open a work order, I can see what’s completed by clinical engineering, what’s in progress on a patient, or where we’re waiting on parts.”

Nothing makes a bigger daily impact than a facilities or HTM department’s asset management tool. Whether considered a CMMS, EAM, or a hybrid of both, the best way to find the right tool for you starts with identifying your organization’s priorities and evaluating tools that will help you achieve those goals.

If you think FSI’s capabilities sound like the right match for your organization, send a message to our team and we’ll help you develop a plan to manage your assets and work orders.