Technology is essential to the delivery of health care but it is still only a tool that needs
to be deployed wisely to ensure beneficial outcomes at reasonable costs. Among various
categories of health technology medical equipment has the unique distinction of requiring both
high initial investments and costly maintenance during its entire useful life. This
characteristic does not however imply that medical equipment is more costly than other
categories provided that it is managed properly. The foundation of a sound technology
management process is the planning and acquisition of equipment collectively called technology
incorporation. This lecture presents a rational strategic process for technology incorporation
based on experience some successful and many unsuccessful accumulated in industrialized and
developing countries over the last three decades. The planning step is focused on establishing
a Technology Incorporation Plan (TIP) using data collected from an audit of existing technology
evaluating needs impacts costs and benefits and consolidating the information collected for
decision making. The acquisition step implements TIP by selecting equipment based on technical
regulatory financial and supplier considerations and procuring it using one of the multiple
forms of purchasing or agreements with suppliers. This incorporation process is generic enough
to be used with suitable adaptations for a wide variety of health organizations with
different sizes and acuity levels ranging from health clinics to community hospitals to major
teaching hospitals and even to entire health systems. Such a broadly applicable process is
possible because it is based on a conceptual framework composed of in-depth analysis of the
basic principles that govern each stage of technology lifecycle. Using this incorporation
process successful TIPs have been created and implemented thereby contributing to the
improvement of healthcare services and limiting the associated expenses. Table of Contents:
Introduction Conceptual Framework The Incorporation Process Discussion Conclusions
