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able in terms of energy consumption and where hazardous com- ponents are strictly prohibited Jablonski, 2009. Such require-
ments result in the restriction of system design and conflict in management and applications. System providers should also
bear in mind the indirect risk associated with regulatory compi- lations such as increased in expenditure and delay, and in devis-
ing a future plan regarding unexpected change in legislations. It is also vital for service providers to be in touch with the market
condition to avoid offering outdated technologies. This is also due to the rapid change in the scene of IT development. For ex-
ample, mobile glucose indicators were manufactured to be con- nected to computer a couple of years ago. Due to the
availability of ‘Vena’ platform that enables the matching of in- formation within strict procedures, this project was handed by
third parties. Even though the platform did not result in any problem, the manufacturer was not aware that the standardiza-
tion of IEEE 11073 was yet to be completed an as a result, the glucose meter did not conform to the standard. This occurs as it
is common for manufacturers to ignore the requirement of standards. Given its importance, the installation of a system up-
date is required to ensure IEEE 11073 compilation even though it results extra resources.
5.4.3 Reliability and Liability
The factor of reliability is measurable with either numerical measurement of qualitative attributes such as verbal communi-
cations. As a general rule of thumb, long-existing firms often have a high reliability, even though this cannot be applied in all
conditions especially on vital health-supporting devices. For example, the lagging of computers is a normal condition and
this is when reboot of the system is required. This is to empha- size that not all situations can be fixed by the simple act of sys-
tem reboot particularly the ones that involve the resuscitations of patients. This issue will be given more attention due to its
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importance in the healthcare system. The reliability of healthcare devices will be examined via mathematical modeling
and statistics. For the rest of the section, a focus will be placed on the reliability of system provider when signing a contract.
Before signing the contract, it is the topmost priority of firms to believe that their business partners are reliable. Potential service
providers are normally identified via the Internet or Yellow Page and further screened to a shorter list. To layout a list of
reliable providers, the guidelines as mentioned in sub-section 5.4.2 can be observed, such as identifying the duration for pro-
totype testing, compilation of standards, the overall costs and system maintenance and update among others. However, it is
often helpful to come up with a longer list of potential suppliers in the first place to increase the probability of getting reliable
suppliers. The elimination of listed suppliers should be carried out for firms without records of required functions. In overall,
potential suppliers are identified after a screening process of the preferred products, performance in extending their services, ar-
ea of operations and good financial records.
In the industry, request for a proposal RFP is often initiated when there is a list of service providers to be chosen. This pro-
cess enables the investigation of demands in great details such as the lifespan of batteries in portable medical devices. The ref-
erences provided from other institutions can be useful, provided that cautions are still practiced on the possibilities of biases. In
the end, a ranked list of providers is obtained with a high proba- bility of getting the supplier with high reliability. Even though it
is almost impossible to obtain a provider that fulfils out budget, it is still ensure that providers are reliable and devices provided
can be utilized without problems. This is to avoid serious rami- fications such as mistake in diagnose and followed by a lawsuit
from patients. Under this situation, it is important in the first place to define responsibilities so that a clear statement is avail-
able during the inspection by legal bodies. This certainly cannot
