Nine Buyer Tools Take a Device From Classification to Retirement
The nine field tools for buyers of institutional medical devices, in the order a buyer meets them.
Companion to Medical Device Connectivity · Updated 2026-09-29
Every tool in this fieldbook is introduced once, in the chapter that needs it, and worked there on one of the book’s recurring devices. The full tool appears once, either in the buyer tools or in the builder tools. The chapters use a few devices so the worked examples stay easy to follow, but every tool applies to any institutional device class: a computed tomography (CT) scanner, a chemistry analyzer, an anesthesia workstation, an automated dispensing cabinet, a hemodialysis machine, a smart bed, a washer-disinfector, or a blood bank refrigerator. These pages follow the order a buyer meets the tools, from placing a device in the taxonomy to supporting a fleet until retirement. Copy any of them for your own evaluations and contracts. Fill in one copy per device, fleet, or product. Keep each copy with the decision it informed.
- Place a Device on Four Axes Before Naming Its Category
- Rate a Device by What the Hospital Can Do With Its Evidence
- Ask the Vendor Seventeen Questions in Writing Before Shortlisting
- Test the Vendor’s Written Answers Against a Working Device
- Put Each Connectivity Requirement Into Contract Language
- Get Every Cloud Exit Protection Into the Contract
- Mark a Data Right Yes Only When the Contract States It
- Test a Vendor’s AI-Ready Claim Against Twelve Capabilities
- Confirm Support From Installation to Retirement Before You Buy
In this section
- Place a Device on Four Axes Before Naming Its Category
A worksheet that places a device by who governs it and what it produces, with the category named last.
- Rate a Device by What the Hospital Can Do With Its Evidence
Six cumulative levels, from Silent to AI-Ready and Evidence-Producing, defined by what the institution can do with a device’s evidence.
- Ask the Vendor Seventeen Questions in Writing Before Shortlisting
Seventeen written questions a vendor answers before an institutional device reaches a shortlist.
- Test the Vendor’s Written Answers Against a Working Device
A due-diligence interview that checks the vendor’s written answers against a working device and the people who support it.
- Put Each Connectivity Requirement Into Contract Language
Sample RFP and contract clauses, one for each requirement area of the integration contract, plus a roadmap clause.
- Get Every Cloud Exit Protection Into the Contract
A checklist for any device whose function or data lives in a vendor-hosted service, used before signing and at every renewal.
- Mark a Data Right Yes Only When the Contract States It
A checklist for reading a device contract against the data rights the institution will need later.
- Test a Vendor’s AI-Ready Claim Against Twelve Capabilities
Twelve capability questions for a vendor’s claim that a device is AI-ready.
- Confirm Support From Installation to Retirement Before You Buy
A checklist for confirming the vendor will support the fleet through its whole life, used before purchase and at every renewal.