A substantial part of investment and expenses for any medical facility is buying expensive medical equipment and then maintaining them. Fortunately, when it comes to medical imaging equipment, refurbished and pre-owned medical equipment are widely available on sale and come at quite affordable rates. However, regular service and maintenance cost of medical equipment is another story. Maintaining the heavy investment imaging equipment and keeping them in the top-performing condition is very critical and it presents a huge challenge when trying to reduce expenses. Be it hospitals, clinics, medical facilities, private practices, or medical institutes, they are always working on ways to reduce bottom-line expenses and increase the cost-savings. The more they succeed in reducing the service and maintenance cost of these equipment, the more profit they make.

Let’s discuss how we can save service costs on pre-owned or refurbished medical equipment.

1) Multi-system & Multi-year Agreements

When you buy service coverage for multiple equipment or systems at a go, you are in a position to get a good bargain from the service organization on your multi-system service agreement. Similarly, when you tie-up with them for multiple years, it gives them assured business for a longer tenure and reduces their operational cost as it is multi-system and they would be willing to give you a better deal just like any bulk-buying deal. Thus this type of service agreement will help you in saving service costs on your refurbished or pre-owned medical equipment

2) Full-Service Agreement

In a full-service agreement, at a fixed annual price you get full coverage on your medical equipment, including repairs, parts replacement, and regular maintenance cost. This type of agreement saves you the cost and also ensures that your medical equipment stays in its optimum performing condition as it is regularly serviced and maintained as per the schedule and not just when something unexpected happens. A full-service agreement of your medical equipment comes with 24X7 access to customer care thus giving you peace of mind, reducing expenses, and improving patient safety.

3) Advance Payment on Service Agreement

Paying upfront or in advance for your refurbished or pre-owned equipment service agreement is a very easy way to cut down your maintenance cost. You can either pay a part or entire contract amount in advance and your discount is directly proportional to the percentage you pay in advance. So if you have money available, you are in luck as your service provider will give you a markdown if you pay in advance and it will help you reduce the overall agreement amount and save you service cost.

4) Reduced Coverage Option

While a full-service agreement gives you the room for negotiations and offers complete peace of mind, you can also choose to take an optional coverage wherein the charges are reduced and you have to pay only for elements included in the agreement. So if you have an in-house biomedical engineer, you can opt for a parts only agreement and thus you pay only for the parts to be replaced and don’t get charged for the labor. If you have refurbished medical equipment and are confident that all parts need not be covered, you can go for a reduced coverage option further reducing your service cost.

5) Appropriate Handling and Maintenance of Medical Equipment

Last but not the least, handling and upkeep of your medical equipment is very important to increase its shelf life, get optimum performance from it, and not incur repeated repair and service cost on it. Please ensure that your medical staff is well trained to handle the heavy-duty pre-owned or refurbished medical equipment appropriately. Regular servicing and maintenance of your medical equipment will increase their durability and performance output thus enabling you to deliver quality healthcare while saving you repair costs.

These are a few ways you can reduce your service costs on refurbished or pre-owned medical equipment but the best way to go about it is to take some time out, do research and compare costs between various service providers. This will give you an idea of the options available and help you choose wisely as per the condition of your medical equipment and the requirement of your medical facility.

We are pioneers in selling pre-owned and refurbished medical imaging equipment from reputed OEMs like Toshiba, Philips, Siemens, GE, and more. We can help you buy the best medical equipment for your healthcare facility and also guide you on how to protect your investment and provide options for saving maintenance and service costs on your pre-owned or refurbished medical equipment.