Capital Budgeting for Perfusion Equipment: Repair, Replace, or Reallocate
Perfusion capital decisions tend to be made in one of two bad moments: when a device fails, or when a sales representative says the current model is being retired. Neither is a good time to commit six figures. A framework decided in advance removes the pressure from both.
Total cost of ownership, not sticker price
The purchase price of a heart-lung machine is a fraction of its lifetime cost. Service contracts, disposables tied to the platform, downtime exposure, and the cost of an unplanned failure all belong in the model. A cheaper device on a costlier disposable platform can be the more expensive decision over its life.
The repair-replace-reallocate decision
Plan the fleet, not the crisis
The programs that manage perfusion capital well treat their equipment as a fleet with a staggered replacement schedule, not a set of independent emergencies. A simple lifecycle plan — age, condition, utilization, and projected replacement year for each unit — turns capital requests into predictable, defensible line items and strips the urgency that vendors rely on.
Related insights
Do you know what your perfusion service costs per case?
Most programs can’t produce that number on request. We’ll assemble it and benchmark it against comparable programs — free, and with nothing to buy at the end.