Evaluating Your Current Service Vendor
Choosing and maintaining a good service provider for MRI and CT equipment is one of the most critical decisions an imaging services manager can make. Steven Ford, imaging consultant and retired national service manager, shares fundamental principles for evaluating your current vendor’s performance — whether they are the original equipment manufacturer or an independent service organization.
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
There’s a common belief that large manufacturers always provide the best service. In practice, large corporations systematize their processes and allocate scarce resources where the financial return doesn’t justify greater investment. If you have older or niche equipment, you can frequently get better service from a good independent source that specializes in your specific type of equipment.
However, the flip side is also true: a hard-working genius alone isn’t enough. Medical imaging is a costly business for everyone — the clinic, the service provider, and the patient. It takes a team of talented and hard-working people to be successful in the long run. Spare parts, experience on that specific machine, technical documentation, specialty tools, and someone to lean on when things go wrong are all essential elements.
Little Things Mean a Lot
If you have a maintenance contract, it gives your service provider space and a budget to handle the details. Some parts of the scanner are best cleaned by the service engineer — ask them to do that if they’re not already. The engineer who will glue broken plastic pieces in place and replace a noisy wheel without nagging is almost always the professional you want handling the major issues too.
For diagnostic center managers, where preventive maintenance can be neglected in favor of corrective actions, this attention-to-detail mindset is especially relevant. Centers that invest in proper equipment technical specifications from the start tend to have fewer maintenance issues throughout the equipment lifecycle.
Communication: The Deciding Factor
When consulting radiology department directors about what they valued most in service providers, a universal sentiment emerged: the importance of the engineer keeping them informed about what’s going on. Proactive communication builds understanding, even when unavoidable delays occur. Promptly informing the manager about a problem usually generates understanding and cooperation.
If you have trouble reaching your service provider, consider it a serious red flag. It indicates they don’t understand basic principles of their job, or they really don’t like their work — or both. Successful service managers square their shoulders and act promptly to handle the problems of the day.
Practical Evaluation Framework
For a structured evaluation, consider the following criteria: average response time to service calls, first-time fix rate, spare parts availability, technical staff qualifications, frequency of completed preventive maintenance, and quality of documentation provided. Clinics using integrated monitoring systems can track these indicators more objectively.
Establish clear metrics in your contract and review them periodically. Equipment uptime above 95%, maximum 4-hour response time for critical calls, and monthly preventive maintenance are reasonable benchmarks for high-complexity equipment like MRI and CT scanners.
Market Outlook
As the installed base of imaging equipment grows rapidly worldwide, service quality becomes a crucial competitive differentiator. With expanding financing options for equipment acquisition and growing participation of independent companies in the service market, managers need to be increasingly discerning in evaluating their providers. Combining objective technical criteria with subjective assessment of the professional relationship quality offers the best framework for this decision.
Source: DOTmed