by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | August 01, 2014
From the August 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Bayer is able to provide such prompt service to customers in part because its Health-Care Service team specializes in servicing the company’s product portfolio of power injectors, according to Osbourn. And most parts are near at hand. “These field service engineers carry sufficient ‘trunk stock’ to have the products on hand,” says Osbourn.
This means there’s no delay waiting for a part to arrive. Bayer also offers Virtual Care which allows for remote diagnosis to help identify and possibly resolve errors remotely. All of this is backed by a 24/7 technical assistance center, she says.
As a group, they believe as imaging technology continues to advance, software will play a growing role in its operation and by extension, remote service and monitoring will become a more important service and should be a welcome one for cost-conscious hospitals.
Another tip they offer for cost-conscious hospitals, or really any facility that isn’t looking to throw out money is to be sure of what’s being included when it comes to negotiating a service contract. They suggest hospitals look at the details of the individual proposals to ensure an “apples to apples” comparison. What may seem like a deal can ultimately cost more than another offer once all aspects of a contract are considered.
Keeping true to the source
“When preventative maintenance, repair or repair replacement is completed through KARL STORZ, or any OEM, the product warranty is assured and, in some cases, the warranty clock restarts to ensure maximum protection for your repaired devices,” says Jeffrey Yates, group marketing manager, Protection1 for KARL STORZ.
According to Yates, only KARL STORZ technicians can restore the company’s products to their original factory specifications, thus ensuring optimal performance according to the instructions for use (IFU) that are supplied with the devices when they are new.
Yates warns that repair of those products by an ISO may void indemnification by STORZ, or at least limit any guarantees previously in effect, depending on what repairs or modifications were done. “More importantly however, is that the IFU provided with the device is no longer valid,” Yates says.
