by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | August 12, 2019
From the August 2019 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Oxford’s Lindsey sees both positive and negative effects of consolidation. On one hand, it means having access to more resources, such as new remote diagnostics and repair capabilities, faster onsite response times to service calls, enhanced technical expertise with the availability of product specialists and regional specialists for service call escalations, access to real-time performance metrics, and access to a broader portfolio of solutions. On the other hand, becoming a larger organization means some hospitals may lose the personal touch of a service engineer they have relied on for years, or a special relationship with the leadership team that knows their unique needs.
“The largest risk to ISO consolidation is the company who acquired the service provider losing sight of the reasons why customers trusted them to maintain their equipment instead of the OEM,” said Lindsey.
What about when hospitals and health systems consolidate? According to Chandre, that can actually have a positive effect on the quality of service that a leading ISO can provide.
“Often when you’re in a multi-OEM distributor type of environment, it is very regional,” said Merry X-ray’s Chandre. “As the networks and providers consolidate, that’s something we can handle very easily because we are a nationwide organization.”
He mentioned the merger of Aurora Health Care and Advocate Health Care that was completed in April 2018. There are dealers that support particular service and sale of particular equipment, but they are regional, which means some only do it in Illinois and others only in Wisconsin.
“We can bridge those geographic state lines and we can also leverage the strength of our technical knowledge and technical assets out in the field,” said Chandre. “As that health network changes, we can change with it.”
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