by
John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | June 20, 2022
From the June 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Every time I talk to a manufacturer, the delivery time is longer and longer,” Iravani said. “And unfortunately, we must pass along higher costs as we’re paying more. There’s also a lot of competition right now for used systems, and some buyers are willing to pay exorbitant prices. Sometimes we have to walk away when the bidding gets too high.”
During the pandemic, repair companies such as DirectMed Parts and Service, LLC, experienced selling hesitation, especially among healthcare practices. Tanner LoRusso, vice president of sales, said the trend drove their internal repair capability rather than sourcing for new parts. Pre-pandemic, the company was purchasing several million dollars of deinstalled equipment per quarter, that number dropped 95% during the pandemic.
“We didn’t have the ability to buy used equipment because hospitals were not replacing their systems. We had to pivot and perform more repairs in-house with fewer harvested parts from used scanners," he said. "We hired more engineers to expand our repair lab capabilities. We had some of our biggest growth during the pandemic years, demand for CT parts in particular.”
Shipping backlogs manifested in another way, according to Iravani with Chicago Medical Exchange: more damaged equipment. Such occurrences delay entire projects as it can take months to resolve an insurance claim.
“I’m hearing about this from other companies, as well,” he explained. "Shipping companies are scrambling to fill vacancies, and some of their hires are inexperienced, especially when it comes to moving large pieces of equipment."
He recalled one instance in which a customer called to tell him the driver was elderly and appeared frail. When Iravani called the shipping company, they assured him the driver could move the palleted equipment. Instead, the driver bent a couple of wheels on the pallet mover, unbalancing and damaging the equipment. Iravani remains extra cautious with shipping companies because he fears the lack of experienced drivers may persist for a few more years.
Meeting unique install challenges
Pandemic-driven complications aside, the usual challenges related to installs and deinstalls persist; customer subcontractors behind on-site prep work and/or egress and entry routes not scouted correctly to ensure that hallways and doors were wide enough. Iravani said that customers had not increased cooling to the specifications needed for new systems in two instances, requiring retrofits after the installation.
