From the August 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Randy Walker, vice president of CT and MR at BC Technical: The first question they should ask is about flexibility: hospitals go through cycles where they try to control costs using different approaches. For example, one new CFO might want to get a shared-risk contract. The next CFO that comes in may say, think things are a mess and want to go completely contract. The one after that may believe they can do everything at a lower cost if they take everything in-house. So the next person coming in always needs to be flexible as they change things around. You can’t just walk in and say, “We only provide service contracts or we only do T&M.” Nobody wins out of those arrangements.

The second question is, do you have the expertise? Here’s the rub — now that you have the manufacturers in the game, three of the four main manufacturers have a multivendor product. We don’t have expertise in those areas. They don’t have expertise in the competition’s products. The question is, if you’re going to do service, where’s their expertise? We have a number of guys on staff that have expertise on multiple manufacturers. We have a much broader spectrum. I’m not saying we will contract — I’m saying we will provide service. OEMS rarely have the expertise, they’re rarely providing the service — they’re typically contracting to someone else.


DMBN: In many hospitals, administrators and C-suite executives are calling the shots on purchasing/contract decisions formerly made by radiologists. How do you see this affecting the service field?

Lisa Collins: Siemens Healthcare Customer Services has always strived to be a strategic partner with our customers. This shift has not made a significant impact on the way we deliver service or package available offerings. We have been watching this trend develop for some time now, and our organization has been providing thought leadership on a number of topics, such as the total cost of ownership, reputation risk, and other issues that are of keen interest to hospital executives and the C-Suite. We’re also utilizing customer advisory boards as a bridge between us as the OEM and the C-Suites of various leading facilities to make sure we’re providing solutions to the most pressing needs of our customers, at all levels in their organization.

Joe Graham: Service is engaging the C-suite at a much higher level than at any other time in history — it does force service sales specialists to be able to communicate and sell differently than they have in the past. It tends to be a sale that requires financial analysis and value propositions more than relationships or day-to-day operational issues, but other than that, it’s really a similar pitch to just hone down to the right audience.

August 2013 Magazine

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