by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | August 20, 2018
From the August 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“A customer can choose to go from one service agreement solution to another based on their needs,” said Joe Graham, director of service sales and marketing for Canon Medical Systems. “They may choose to train someone and want to eventually take on more risk themselves.”
Konica Minolta also offers what Chlopecki called a “pooling concept”, in which customers with many high-value pieces of equipment are covered for a reduced price. Customers have the ability to decide the amount of risk they want to take.
“If a health network has 100 systems and believes it will need only one replacement, risk assumption is low and the price adjusts accordingly,” Chlopecki said. “Beyond the covered events, additional costs may be incurred, but that risk level can be set by the customer.”
Companies are also releasing new models for equipment upgrades.
Late last year, Bayer launched TechCARE, which is a comprehensive service program that has uptime guarantees plus hardware non-obsolescence options for its vascular injectors, which inject contrast into the patient's body during imaging procedures. This offering is available to be added to both newly purchased injectors as well as injectors that have been in use.
“It’s a non-obsolescence program,” said Dennis Durmis, senior vice president and head of commercial operations for Americas Radiology at Bayer. “They’re contracting with us so they will always have the newest technology without having to make future capital outlays. In the long run it saves money.”
Special handling is also necessary for customers who are not necessarily seeking the latest and greatest and want to extend the life of older equipment that is still doing its job.
Carestream offers low-volume service plans for its customers that still rely on CR technology.
“A lot of people want to use CR in a low-volume way,” said Todd Minnigh, vice president of global service sales for Carestream. “In those cases, a full-blown service contract doesn’t make sense. They are still dependent on it as a backup or for specific exams.
