Outsourcing Medical Equipment Maintenance

Medical facilities need to depend on outside medical equipment service providers when in-house service specialists are not on staff.  Regular maintenance, including preventative and corrective measures, needs to be done to keep medical equipment safe and running smoothly.  Updating software and worn parts adds to the longevity of medical equipment thus resulting in savings for your facility.

Many facilities try to cut corners by having personnel perform regular maintenance and minor repairs.  While this may occasionally work it is always better to enter into a service contract with a third party service company or equipment vendor to perform corrective and preventative maintenance.  A service contract will ensure that your equipment is maintained at regular intervals.  This will help to combat against unexpected machine failures.  There are several options when choosing a service contract.  We will look into the options below.

Third Party Equipment Service Contracts Available To Medical Facilities

• 24/7 Full Coverage: A medical facility can request services anytime, day or night.
• Business Hour Coverage: With this type of service contract a medical center will receive service during normal business hours, five days a week for eight hours a day.
• Extended Business Hour Coverage: This service contract offers the same coverage as business hour coverage except that it covers more than eight hours.  If your facility is open from nine in the morning until nine at night this would be one of the contract options to consider.
• Extended Business Hour and Weekend Coverage: Similar to the above except it adds hours to cover facilities on the weekend.
• Preventative Maintenance Coverage: This type of service contract only covers planned maintenance and does not cover unplanned corrective services.
• Time and Material Coverage: A time and material coverage contract is where a service provider is paid based on the actual cost of parts and labor used. This contract is usually based on a specific cost per hour of labor.
• Loaner Service Contract Coverage: This type of contract allows medical facilities to return the unit to the vendor and the vendor provides a loaner unit until the equipment is returned to its original state. This is a difficult service contract to have in place with large scaled equipment such as linear accelerators and ct scanners.

In our next installment on medical equipment service contracts we will discuss tips on negotiating a contract that best meets your facilities needs while maintaining a reasonable budget.