Health

The way to Safely Buy Pre-Owned Health-related Systems

Very often there is a must acquire additional capability inside our health care facilities but there is not always the funds to get a new, full-functioned, advanced, diagnostic imaging system. For that reason, a decision must be made to determine whether the additional services can be changed to another facility or in case it is critical or at least necessary to stay at your facility. The decision generally comes back that it needs to stay and options to accommodate it should be considered.

The first activity would be to investigate potential solutions beginning with new systems that provide the latest technology and extended performance. Inviting manufacturer’s sales associates in usually begins to get ourselves in gear.

Generally, long meetings filled with important facts about the abilities of their systems help make a person familiar with what’s available and its costs. Once the label shock subsides, you must right now determine which of the functions and functions discussed tend to be absolutely necessary to carry out the application screening you need to accommodate. You probably will certainly determine, in most cases, that fundamental functionality will be very appropriate to support your requirement.

For example, right after investigating a 256-cut CT scanner’s additional performance and its cost, you may figure out that a 16-slice device would work quite well. But you additionally know that 16 slice technologies have been available for some time as well as your budget is quite conservative (small). Therefore, you make the decision to check into both new systems as well as pre-owned systems.

The first step would be to re-contact the manufacturer’s product sales representatives and determine what the price is for a new unit associated with older technology or when it is even still available. Right now the salespeople will be worried you made this choice to maneuver down to these older technologies and probably won’t offer any kind of encouraging incentives unless you re-consider a more recent vintage, or even they will claim these techniques are no longer available and they will only be in a position to provide a price on a thirty-two or 64 slice program. It is at this point you decide you will need to consider a pre-owned program, but how do you begin? You might have heard horror stories involving shady brokers who have run away with facilities money, sent something totally inferior to what was ordered, or sent systems missing components along with requiring tens of thousands of additional money to complete the project. How do you start?

The first thing you could possibly consider doing is browsing the International Association of Health care Equipment Resellers and Servicers (IAMERS) website. The organization was built in the early 90s with a new concept of establishing a membership involving companies committed to providing extraordinary medical equipment, that preserved the highest ethical standards, along with were willing to commit to currently being evaluated and monitored by simply its governing membership. In addition, the organization is in continual experience with the FDA establishing significant rules and operating processes consistent with government policy. For anyone who is considering acquiring pre-owned health care equipment, a quick visit to typically the IAMERS website will provide you with a list of companies that will give you a broad choice of available methods. Go to: www.iamers.org.

Choose numerous potential providers and give these people your choice of system to be obtained. It is important to share with them just as much information as possible to save time, money, and other resources during the selection process. They should be conscious of the preferred manufacturer (ie. GENERAL ELECTRIC, Siemens, Philips, etc), the actual model, the basic system features, any options, the required shipping date, and most importantly the total amount budgeted for the system. Numerous organizations are hesitant to talk about the available budget on issues the supplier will shift his sale price as much as matches the budgeted quantity. This is silly. You will have several suppliers quoting and all thinking about obtaining the business. They will be really aggressive to win your company, which means big-time competition. Additionally, why have a supplier your time to locate and offer a $400K solution when you just have $250K to spend? As soon as you present to him your budget, he will unquestionably share with you whether you are in the golf ballpark for what you want or even if you need to rethink what you are in a position to afford

Once you have identified the supplier that can provide the favored system, make sure you have considered almost all costs associated with the project, like the cost of removing an existing technique. Many times you will be able to have the outdated system removed at no charge throughout the trade for the new technique, or sometimes it may be an agreed trade-in value, and in other instances, it may be out-right good discounts to the supplier or another vacation. Room remodeling may be often as simple as a new overcoat of paint or while involved as installing, protecting, changing power, installing brand-new cable troughs, changing AIR CONDITIONING, lighting, flooring, and/or typically the control room. The system company should provide detailed images indicating system location along with required resources to properly install the system. You need to look at access paths associated with old equipment and the distribution of replacement equipment. Filter hallways, tight corners, measures, ceiling heights, elevator volumes, door openings, and big rig docks (or the lack of) all need to be considered. The moment is usually critical. If you are eliminating an older system before setting up the replacement, you are going to become without a system for as long as it requires removing the old system as well as remodeling the room. Schedule almost all activities and be sure the house contractors selected can fulfill the desired schedule. The provider should provide in-service and application on-site training from the operation of the system.

Finally, you should identify a local support group (it could be the manufacturer’s service group or a 3rd party group) that will offer a good on-site system service agreement once the supplier’s warranty offers expired.

Although the project might sound complicated, your organization will most likely realize savings associated with 50% or more and will possess substantially increased capabilities. The majority of the project activity is required whether or not you purchase new or used, so be prepared and deal with most of the things I resolved regardless of what you purchase. Although you can do more than one project at a time, you might want to limit yourself to one at a time until you have a qualified staff to consider some of the tasks.

If you have issues or questions about some of the issues discussed, don’t think twice about contacting me, as we could happen with these projects continually.