Nearly 19 million people with disabilities are part of the U.S. workforce. However, only about 40% of working-age individuals with disabilities are employed. This session will explore the importance of inclusivity and accessibility within HTM. We will discuss common misconceptions about disabilities, share personal experiences, and provide practical strategies for creating a more inclusive work environment. Attendees will learn how to recognize and address barriers faced by individuals with disabilities, fostering a culture of respect and support. This session aims to empower HTM professionals to advocate for and implement inclusive practices in their organizations.

In this dynamic session, we'll explore the growing trend of independent contracting in the Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) field. Learn how platforms like MedServ Marketplace are revolutionizing career opportunities for medical equipment service technicians. Discover the benefits, challenges, and best practices for transitioning from traditional employment to independent contracting. This presentation will provide valuable insights for HTM professionals seeking to diversify their career paths and maximize their earning potential.

This session will present a case study on a regional healthcare organization’s initiative to improve the medical device incident investigation (MDII) process, highlighting key lessons learned. We will explore strategies to better document incidents, enhance CMMS documentation and reporting, and streamline communication across facility, regional, and national levels.

The major disruptions to healthcare this year have shown that the traditional means of protecting the enterprise are not enough. Understanding and managing the risks posed by our ecosystem of devices and systems must be a core component of cyber resilience strategies. Coupled with evolving threat tactics and regulations, governance and workflow considerations for HTM are crucial to reducing risk in the digital health environment. How will emerging trends impact these decisions? And how can entities adjust their posture around the role of governance to effectively manage risk?

Steam sterilization relies on pressurized steam with a specific dryness level, which enables a high level of enthalpy or energy and the inactivation of microorganisms during the exposure phase of the cycle. If the steam is heated to a temperature beyond its vaporization point at the absolute pressure, saturated steam turns into superheated steam (SHS). SHS does not carry more energy, nor is it more efficient at inactivating microorganisms. Rather, its dryness prevents the general occurrence of sterilization and has the potential to damage medical devices, monitoring tools, and sterile barriers. 

This session will be geared toward vendors to help promote the value of their participation in trade shows like the AAMI eXchange. This presentation will teach vendors, many of whom are new to the industry and have very little understanding of HTM, more about the field, what's important to HTM professionals, and what they look for in their vendor partners. 

A US National Health System system with more than 180 hospitals in N. America, is implementing the world's largest healthcare RTLS deployment, tracking 500,000+ devices across 300+ locations. Within 9 months, the health system is integrating the asset management solution into its existing IT infrastructure that helps staff gain real-time visibility of medical equipment location, usage, and status, which significantly increases utilization and fulfills 60% of nurse requests internally. The health system experienced a 75% reduction in rentals and an 88% reduction in missing equipment. This results in a 7X annualized ROI and improved patient care.<

Healthcare workers rely on isolation gowns to protect themselves and the patients they care for from potentially harmful cross-contamination. But are these gowns really as protective as we believe? Through funding from the AAMI Foundation's Mary K. Logan Research Grant, we performed a national survey of healthcare workers to explore the rate of fluid contamination through disposable isolation gowns, incident reporting, and staff education, while simultaneously performing a laboratory analysis on how real-world conditions affect results of the standard gown test methods. We hope to stimulate discussion on the need for improved testing and better staff education. 

Sicker patients, more complex care, and more reliance on medical technology. These are three very good reasons to track and improve the health of your organization's engineering-nursing relationship. This session will focus on how improved communication can foster the trust needed to tackle workflow and patient safety challenges. This presentation was brought to you by an ICU nurse turned nurse-engineer researcher and a biomedical systems engineer. Join this active learning session to hear about test cases and learn how HTM professionals can build positive interdepartmental relationships to break down barriers and keep patients and staff safe.

The healthcare sector experienced a 156% increase in records breached from 2022 to 2023. With the Change, Ascension, and McLaren breaches unreported for 2024, it's evident that the attacks remain successful. This presentation will address healthcare's three primary attack vectors, what they mean for Health Technology Management (HTM) teams, and how upcoming regulations will require proactive risk reduction. learn actionable strategies for mitigation and remediation tailored specifically for HTM environments and get ahead of the upcoming regulatory requirements. This session is a must for anyone involved in HTM, healthcare IT, or medical device security. 

Best-in-class healthcare organizations are using AI-powered predictive and proactive services to enhance equipment management and streamline operations. This course will help you understand how to reduce unplanned downtime, optimize labor capacity, reduce parts spend, and improve vendor management. Learn how to elevate your facility's operations and expand your HTM toolbox by leveraging AI-enabled Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how to translate them to financial and business benefits. This session will also cover tips on how to convince leadership to adopt predictive services to improve clinical performance and patient care.

The plight to find a qualified HTM candidate is more desperate than ever. However, HTM departments that are recruiting, still have to follow a process that flows through HR. How can we rely on HR personnel, who may not know what we do, to find our next BMET? The solution is to have HTM's spread the word about our field and career path. I want to educate our peers about how to talk to HR staff and educators about our field and the best ways to recruit new candidates. 

This session will explore various approaches to evaluating medical equipment risks ad will offer potential solutions to some of the challenges. The classic approach to defining risk considers probability and impact, or severity. This stratifies populations to better understand risks from highest to lowest probability, and where organizations might apply resources. Such systems are usually estimations of risk due to not having robust safety and clinical data. As such, the assigned values of risk factors can be somewhat subjective and might lean towards being conservative. Also, focusing on rare but catastrophic failure modes could inadvertently de-emphasize less severe but common failure modes. 

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina revolutionized how healthcare facilities manage emergencies. The presenters offer examples from their clinical engineering work in the storm's aftermath. Codes and standards are not enough: expect the unexpected. Planning for something to go wrong in a single facility is not enough: sometimes everything seems to go wrong everywhere. Surviving the immediate threat is not enough: preparation, mitigation, and recovery are part of emergency management. How will we manage the next emergency? 

When we have standardized medical equipment management programs, HTM programs across the country will be able to ‘speak the same language.' This will facilitate efforts to improve patient care and increase operational efficiency. Currently, every HTM organization has 'reinvented the wheel', and is therefore organized differently, uses different terminology, and cannot compare data. Our goal for this session is to motivate HTM leaders to standardize their medical equipment management practices. By the end of this presentation, attendees will see the benefits of and be prepared to implement a standard medical equipment management program based on the new AAMI EQ-56 standard.

Borescopes provide powerful visual evidence of what is going on INSIDE of lumened devices, including endoscopes. Are you considering adding Inspection Borescopes to your department? Already have a borescope but looking for ways to be more effective or efficient? Engage in an interactive discussion with department heads, leading powerful borescope programs. They bring great insight on how they developed a program that works and what changes borescopes have brought to their facility. 

In April 2024, during preparation for a routine scan at the VA North Texas, a C-Arm in the GI lab fell from its vertical mount and crashed to the floor. No patient or staff injury occurred, but the C-Arm was rendered completely unusable. The ensuing investigation brought together local, regional, and national biomedical engineering staff, as well as international vendor collaborators from Germany. Learn about the causes and contributing factors to the incident, and the coordinated response leading to the conclusion of the C-Arm Down saga and the global collaboration it spurred.

Digital Health Technology (DHT) is transforming healthcare through tools like telemedicine, wearable devices, and AI. Biomedical Engineers (BMEs) play a critical role in designing, implementing, and integrating these technologies into healthcare systems. Their expertise ensures the safety, efficacy, and regulatory compliance of DHT while also contributing to the development of digital health policies. This presentation highlights the key advancements in DHT and emphasizes the essential role of BMEs in shaping the future of healthcare through innovation and policy involvement.

In this session, we will discuss the impact of emerging technologies on the HTM field. We will summarize the results of our survey, which asked HTM professionals for their insight on technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, cloud computing, and the internet of things. This survey also included open-ended questions on important work skills in HTM. We will provide an update on preliminary data presented at the 2024 AAMI Exchange. With AAMI's help, we have also expanded the survey’s sample size. In this presentation, we will show how the data can be used to guide the future of HTM.   

Cybersecurity poses a serious risk to healthcare delivery and patient safety. Addressing this risk in hospitals is difficult due to the need for 24x7 availability, the unique challenges of medical devices, and a shortage of skilled security staff. To better share cybersecurity information about medical devices, the industry created the Manufacturer Disclosure Statement of Medical Device Security (MDS2) Form which is provided by manufacturers during procurement. This session demonstrates how to use the MDS2 Form during procurement to effectively identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks, and how it supports achieving the HHS Voluntary Cybersecurity Performance Goals. 

Medical device incidents can harm or even kill patients. A proper investigative process is necessary to mitigate the risk of future incidents. In this session, open the Veterans Affairs new and improved Incident Investigation Guidebook and learn how to develop an incident investigation program in your hospital. Tap into data analysis and best practices derived from hundreds of investigations conducted over a period of more than ten years. 

In this session we will present an overview of the current state of AI in healthcare. We will first present an introduction to the underlying mathematics of AI at a conceptual level. Next, we will discuss the current regulatory structure for the use of AI in medical devices and other healthcare-related software, such as clinical decision support and productivity tools, with an emphasis on cybersecurity issues. We will particularly focus on the unique risk management challenges involved in AI as opposed to traditional medical devices. We will conclude with a summary of the current state of healthcare AI implementation.

In our age of incredible technological advancement, one aspect of Healthcare Technology Management has stubbornly remained the same - the way we perform Planned Maintenance (PM). Paper PM checklists leave too much room for error. How can we ensure all steps are followed? Capture important device data associated with a PM? Verify the most recent version of a checklist is being used? Enter AmbiFi, a low-code no-code SaaS platform for building and deploying interactive activities with nearly limitless use cases. Join us to explore how the VA New England Health System's pilot of AmbiFi demonstrates the platform's potential to revolutionize medical device maintenance.

The program will discuss the constraints of outdated equipment and the challenges of finding funding to replace equipment that can no longer be repaired, resulting in downtime. Biomed and sterile processing both have a role in ensuring equipment is up and running at its optimum to ensure customer needs are met. New technologies on the horizon may require different processing equipment. Are we prepared to process them? This program will discuss how succession planning can be adapted to meet the challenges of outdated equipment and new technologies to keep the department running smoothly. 

In 2011, AAMI sponsored a Medical Device Alarm Summit that resulted in a 'Siren Call to Action' document with 'clarion themes' and top actions to take. Unfortunately, 13 years later, alarms still remain a top challenge in hospitals, and alarm fatigue and patient events are both common. This session will review what hospitals have implemented to try and reduce nonactionable alarms and alarm fatigue, what has been effective and what hasn't, and how you can build on this work to implement an effective alarm management program in your hospital or health system.

Nurses on the front lines often generate ideas to improve patient safety and workflow, but they may lack the resources and expertise to bring these ideas to life. This session, led by two nurses with experience in nurse-engineer collaboration, will emphasize how such partnerships foster innovation that enhances patient safety and reduces workload. Examples include the development of the B3 Buddy, a novel urinary drainage securement device, and advancements in infusion safety. The session will showcase how nurse-engineer collaborations transform bedside insights into real-world solutions that make a meaningful impact on patient care. 

The key to optimizing your department's performance lies in the data you collect and analyze. In this session, we will discuss what data you should be collecting, how to clean the data you have, how to keep it clean and consistent using proven methods, and how to leverage that data to increase your value and recognition.

Providence has been on a multi-year journey to establish a robust culture of medical device cybersecurity within our organization. This one-hour session will provide insights into our approach to raising system-wide awareness of the importance of medical device cybersecurity, explore challenges encountered in shaping our culture, and highlight successes achieved along the way. Attendees will have opportunities to ask questions and discuss real-world scenarios throughout this interactive presentation. 

Building an effective Alternative Equipment Management (AEM) program is a challenge, especially with thousands of different manufacturers and clinical equipment models. This session will walk you through the risks to patient safety, regulatory requirements surrounding AEM, how to use historical data to justify not using Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) procedures, and how to monitor and document properly for the upcoming regulatory inspection. We'll also discuss how an effective program can help resource your HTM department as hiring challenges continue. 

We describe the development and clinical integration of AI/ML models that use patient data from continuous cardiorespiratory monitors (CRM), including vital signs and waveforms, to predict catastrophic events, such as cardiac arrest. CRM data can be used with machine learning to detect the patterns that precede decompensation in patients. A key to this development is understanding the performance metrics and protocol used to simulate real-time implementation. Addressing the underestimated challenges of bringing AI to the bedside, we outline the process and requirements for clinical integration through a platform that captures live patient centric data and distributes results to the clinician.

Due to the increasing complexity of medical devices, turnover rates of field service technicians, and constant vigilance required to ensure safety, simpler and more effective ways to deliver service methods are required. Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to revolutionize field service operations by overlaying digital information onto the real world. This enables delivery and remote support of intuitive step-by-step instructions with the ability to highlight potential hazards in real time. AR empowers technicians to operate independently and confidently, reducing errors, improving efficiency, and improving both technician and customer satisfaction. 

This session provides an in-depth exploration of the key elements HTM leaders need to understand to deliver a successful medical device cybersecurity program. Learn how to perform accurate inventory management with a current state assessment, including an understanding of how vulnerabilities are identified, managed, and tracked. Discover what it will take for your organization to govern medical devices and risk management policies to drive continuous improvement. The session will ultimately help HTM leaders and teams understand their role in the cybersecurity ecosystem and how to stay on top of the evolving cyber landscape. 

When someone asks, 'Is this device end-of-life?' our answer is “It depends.” Unfortunately, there was no universal definition of ‘end-of-life’ until now. Attendees will learn the importance and milestones associated with the three end-of-life categories. Interactive case study examples will be used to illustrate concepts and leverage attendee experiences along with those of the speakers. The session should be immediately applicable to clinical engineers, supervisors, managers, directors, and other management roles. Individuals seeking to advance into engineering or management roles will find the session helpful in developing perspectives and skills that support career growth. 

This session will present innovative strategies for recruiting and retaining Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) talent, emphasizing the recruitment of skilled professionals from transferable industries such as electronics, automotive, engineering, and IT. It will address the challenges posed by the shrinking pool of technical talent, declining biomedical program enrollments, and competitive hiring practices. The session will feature a comprehensive case study on MedStar Health's progress and highlight successful implementations of these strategies in other major health systems. Attendees will gain actionable insights for developing flexible staffing solutions to ensure long-term success and stability in the evolving healthcare landscape.

Your emotions tell a story, and leaning into that story is essential to personal growth and creating a feeling of belonging in the workplace. Learn how to lead with vulnerability to create connections with your team members, peers, and others within your organization. Avoiding your vulnerability and difficult emotions stifles your own wisdom, learning, and collaboration. Learn the importance of team building and peer-to-peer connection through your ability to share your own journey.

Restructuring. Leadership Changes. Downsizing. Realignment. Job Modification. There are all sorts of reasons why you or someone you know might experience one or more unexpected changes along your career path. With commonsense preparation and a growth mindset, an unplanned career change can be a chance for tremendous personal and professional growth. This session will share practical tips for preparing for and navigating career change: learn how to grow and invest in your network, get the word out about your availability, parse job postings, find 'hidden' opportunities, and choose the right next step with confidence. You've got this!

In this session, we will explore the crucial intersection of AI and medical device security. As the healthcare industry continues to witness the increasing use of connected medical devices, ensuring their security has become paramount. This session aims to shed light on how AI can play a transformative role in protecting these devices from cyber threats, ultimately safeguarding patient safety and the integrity of healthcare systems. During this interactive session, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the potential of AI in the realm of medical device security and gain practical insights into leveraging AI-driven solutions. 

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) issued a patient safety communication (PSC) to establish a mattress maintenance program. This was in response to an uptick of compromised mattresses where fluids, like blood and urine, penetrated the mattress cover and caused the internal structure to become soiled and moldy. The PSC required all VHA staff to collaborate across the hospital to develop a mattress maintenance program, inspect a minimum of 25% of their mattress inventory (100% if any compromises were observed), and establish procurement processes. The intent is to reduce patient harm and deaths associated with compromised mattresses.

Intuitive and Healthmark collaborated to develop, validate, and obtain FDA approval for a customized steam sterilization pouch and holder for reprocessing robotic surgical instruments. Using this sterilization pouch increased the quality assurance of the instruments at different sites. Intuitive and Healthmark further collaborated to develop, validate, and obtain FDA clearance on a customized Xi 8mm instrument sterilization pouch, which showed quality improvements at healthcare facilities. 

This session will highlight the evolution from traditional methods to advanced infusion device analyzers, emphasizing the importance of these technologies in standardizing your processes and enhancing efficacy, reliability, and patient safety. We'll also delve into the crucial role of data collection in modern testing, exploring its potential to streamline healthcare operations and drive growth. In this new era of predictive maintenance, we'll reveal valuable trends that aid in preventive maintenance, calibration, equipment upgrade, and enhancing reliability ratings. We'll also introduce the concept of workflow automation, your key to efficient preventive maintenance routines and informed, data-driven decision-making. 

HTM teams rarely get the support needed to implement and maintain a best-in-class medical device cybersecurity program effectively. With leaner organizations and lowered budgets, accurately inventorying assets and mitigating critical vulnerabilities can feel like a never-ending challenge, leaving teams struggling to reduce organizational risk proactively. But with the right combination of technology and services, HTM teams can do more with less to secure the devices that patients rely on. In this session, Asimily HTM experts Priyanka Upendra and Mark Elliott will share actionable steps to improve your medical device cybersecurity posture and mindfully reduce organizational risk.

Workforce challenges, including personnel shortages and staff burnout, ranked first on the list of hospital CEOs' concerns in 2023. Over 7,000 additional BMETs are needed each year, but BMET programs graduate fewer than four hundred annually. How will hospitals attract the next generation of BMETs who grew up in a world where technology is the norm, not the exception? Health systems must leverage innovative technologies like mobile, predictive automation, and AI to court new talent with a meaningful and fulfilling career. In this session, discover how technology can improve the efficiency of current BMETs while attracting BMETs of the future.   

The session will be an interactive lecture on ways women can find their voice and confidence in the workplace. The goal is to emphasize the importance of self-advocacy, effective communication, and how to work confidently. Key strategies include setting clear boundaries, seeking mentorship, and finding strength. Participants will be encouraged to challenge societal norms that undermine women's contributions and to celebrate their achievements. The session will highlight the role of supportive networks in fostering confidence and urge the participants to share their experiences to inspire others. It is ultimately aimed to empower women to be assertive and recognize their value. 

The 'AI in Action' session introduces Biomedical Equipment Technicians to the power of AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their work efficiency and problem-solving capabilities. Participants will learn how to leverage AI for troubleshooting, equipment diagnostics, data analysis, general time management and improving technical documentation. The session also covers how AI can assist in automating routine tasks, providing quick access to medical equipment manuals, and offering real-time support for complex repairs. By the end, attendees will understand how to integrate AI into their workflows, saving time and increasing accuracy in their day-to-day biomedical operations.

This session explores how telemedicine technologies, including eICUs and remote telemetry, enhance patient care while reducing costs. It will focus on how healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals can integrate telemedicine solutions into existing systems to optimize equipment utilization, improve operational efficiency, and drive cost savings. Through case studies and real-world examples, attendees will learn how predictive analytics and real-time monitoring streamline workflows, improve ICU capacity, and support proactive maintenance strategies. This session will provide actionable insights for HTM professionals aiming to enhance both clinical outcomes and operational performance.

This session offers a comprehensive overview of the Defense Health Agency's (DHA) data-driven approach to reforming staffing models for Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET) work centers throughout their enterprise. Participants will learn how occupational surveys and data analytics, combined with CMMS maintenance and property data, were used to determine Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staffing needs across Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). Attendees will examine the design and deployment of surveys, explore case studies, and gain insights into practical examples of staffing optimization. This testimony will equip maintenance leaders with the tools necessary to assess and refine staffing models within their own organizations.

This session shows participants how Crothall Healthcare, a leading ISO, and Beth Israel Lahey Health, a premier Northeast health system, leveraged their expertise to identify opportunities for service consolidation across 13 hospitals. Developing an internal multi-modality/multi-vendor service delivery plan, they reduced OEM reliance, delivering cost savings, enhanced coverage, and operational efficiencies without compromising quality. Whether supporting a large health system or a community hospital, attendees will gain insights through real-world examples and interactive discussions, learning to analyze performance metrics to sustain and optimize service delivery programs. Learn strategies to streamline operations, address challenges, and achieve long-term success in multi-modality/multi-vendor programs. 

This session provides a foundational understanding of Healthcare Networks and the BMET's responsibilities in ensuring the safety, security, and availability of networked devices and data. The session emphasizes network infrastructure, device integration, and security. Participants will learn about optimizing and maintaining networked medical devices, collaborating with IT teams, and exploring future trends like IoMT and AI. This session is designed to equip students with essential skills for managing networked medical devices within hospital networks.

The healthcare landscape is continuously evolving. Is your service organization keeping pace with the changes and demands placed on them and able to adapt to succeed in the future? This session will showcase how to transform and contemporize your service organization to support your customers and patients in new ways and enable your teams to do their best work. Session includes the importance of focusing on culture and the team, standardizing work to achieve efficiencies and remaining flexible and open to adapting as your organization transforms.

This presentation will explore one method of using augmented reality (AR) to create interactive guides for medical equipment. Thinglink's AR builder/viewer app was used to develop guides for students to help them go through various preventative maintenance and troubleshooting procedures. The students were also able to create their own content. This presentation will include example guides. This tool will be helpful in education as well as the HTM field, as it can provide instructions and resources for technicians and clinicians to assist with various tasks, including device operation, planned maintenance procedures, and troubleshooting tips. 

This presentation will explore the application of AI in healthcare, with a focus on how AI is transforming the medical device and cybersecurity landscape. Attendees will gain an understanding of AI paradigms, algorithms, models, and agents. We will examine AI's current applications and the models they are built on.  What is AI’s dual role in cybersecurity, both as a tool for defenders and a weapon for adversaries? Trends in AI-driven healthcare technology will be discussed, along with the regulatory landscape shaping its adoption. Attendees will leave with insights into the future of AI in healthcare and its cybersecurity implications.

'HTM Insight: Longitudinal Analysis of Enterprise Asset Availability' presents useful data from a new study that quantifies factors impacting cost, quality, and productivity. This analysis includes qualitative and quantitative data from a diverse cohort of U.S. health systems. This educational presentation will include a discussion on the implications of software management complexity, workflow efficiencies, the impact of process variance on equipment downtime, and associated operating costs. Participants will learn how a systems-based approach to the diagnosis, repair, and continuous improvement of capital asset management can improve asset availability.

Some manufacturers and others have advocated for the FDA to regulate medical device servicing, alleging patient safety and lack of regulations and other concerns. Servicers have contested that there is no data to support the claim of safety concerns. Since healthcare providers transfer many of their regulatory obligations to their services, there is no need for additional regulations. This and other points will be discussed by a panel of volunteers from both sides of the issue to allow the audience to hear different points of view and decide for themselves. 

In healthcare's evolving threat landscape, cybersecurity is no longer a peripheral concern but a central pillar of operational integrity and resiliency. This presentation delves into the multifaceted challenges and strategic approaches faced by HTM leaders in safeguarding critical systems amidst persistent threats, evolving vulnerabilities, and uncharted industry standards. Drawing from real-world experiences, this session will explore the strategies and technologies necessary to build a holistic risk management program to enhance business outcomes, establish key metrics, and unwind the complexities of accountability. Attendees will gain insights from showcasing how an HTM leader has navigated significant cybersecurity challenges and implemented effective solutions.