Classic Diagnostic Imaging also offers help training biomedical engineers. "A big selling point for us is our three percent incentive," said Account Manager Darrell Kile. "Three percent of what customers spend on parts with us goes to training at a local center to further their education and help with their budget."

Some suppliers help with installation too. "There are certain parts that are exceptionally complicated," said Don Bogutski, President, Diagnostix Plus Inc., which specializes in nuclear medicine parts for PET, SPECT, PET/CT, SPECT/CT accessories and options. "Without insulting the capabilities of a biomedical department, when we offer those [intricate] parts we only offer them with one of our engineers doing the installation." Other, simpler components are sometimes offered with telephone support from the company.





Dancing With the OEMs

The network of parts dealers and brokers also supports the original equipment manufacturers like Siemens, Philips, GE, Toshiba. Smaller third parties and ISOs provide parts to hospitals, to each other, and to the OEMs themselves. That's because manufacturers discontinue support and parts production for older equipment (after seven years at the earliest), yet they typically have service contracts with hospitals covering a broad range of devices, including older machines and those made by competing manufacturers.

"That's an interesting dynamic where we are selling the [used] parts made by them back to the OEM," said Bogutski. Also, since OEMs have multi-vendor contracts with hospitals, manufacturers find themselves in need of parts for another maker's technology. "We can go to one OEM and buy parts at a discount, maintain that discount, and provide parts to the other OEM who could not go to the original manufacturer."

Since OEMs look to reputable third-party companies for parts, hospitals can feel confident in the quality. "If GE, Philips, and Siemens rely on us, it means we are doing a good job," said Abdelaal of Express Systems & Parts Network. "We are the backbone of the major manufacturer to fill the need for obsolete items."

More Industry Reports