Medical equipment costs: those you see and those you pay.

A review of life cycle and operation support costestimating capabilities in the health care industry shows few models that discuss total ownership costs for major items, let alone for some expensive minor ones. As yet, no data collection system exists wthat will provide total costs of acquisitions. There is a clear need for the health industry to focus greater attention on life cycle costs of medical equipment. This is particularly pertinent to those physicians responsible for medical equipment acquisition programs. The industry must evaluate the impact of life cycle costs and make such evaluations available to decision makers. The purpose of this paper is to improve the visibility and accuracy of cost estimating by examining the elements of life cycle costs.