AAMI Announces New, Improved HTM Resources Page

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has updated and expanded its online collection of sample healthcare technology management (HTM) documents, to provide even greater support to hospital-based clinical engineers and biomedical equipment technicians, and to local and state HTM societies.

The documents have been submitted to AAMI by departments in the field and by HTM societies, and are intended to be reused by others. Sample documents for HTM departments include equipment inspection plans, corrective action plans, service agreements, departmental marketing brochures, and personnel policies. Sample documents for HTM societies include accounting and tax resources, membership forms, guidance on holding meetings and events, sample bylaws, and website-building resources.  

In visiting HTM departments in various hospitals, its always immediately clear to me just how busy these teams are, and how hard they work with tightening resources, says Patrick Bernat, AAMIs director of healthcare technology management. This is very true of HTM societies as well. The leaders of these groups work tirelessly and thanklessly to bring value to their members, often with precious few resources to support them.

So offering a repository of effective sample documentssubmitted by peers in the fieldis just one small way of lightening everyones load. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel when many of the forms, policies, and documents you might need are readily available.

The resources can be accessed free of charge by AAMI members and nonmembers alike at www.aami.org/htmconnect. To find them, simply scroll to the Sample Documents section of the page.

Among the tax and accounting resources for HTM societies, a Q&A document with frequently asked questions has been particularly popular. The document answers questions such as, What is the difference between 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organizations? How does an organization obtain tax exempt status? and Does the organization need to register with its state government, and if so what agency or agencies within the state?

Among the HTM department resources, an action plan for equipment that is overdue for inspection has proven to be a useful resource. A manager at the facility where the action plan was created noted that it had helped to resolve three late inspections of life support equipment.

While these sample documents are popular, the HTM Resources page offers much more. It also offers career guidance, certification information, educational resources, links to important AAMI and non-AAMI publications, discussion groups, and other resources.

Source: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation