DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Monitor (EKG, Holter)

by Jean B. Grillo, Reporter | March 03, 2008

Lowers is so concerned he performs workshops in proper ECG operation at a small college nearby. The most common part failure will be the actual patient cable or leads. "Preventive maintenance requires that cable or leads should be inspected frequently, as staff using the unit will not be able to identify if the unit is out of calibration unless it shows patient is dead (when he/she is not

Several refurbishers complained about the growing bulk of OEM manuals, which, some insist, staff ends up not really reading.

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One major OEM, speaking off the record, admitted that can be the case.

"We continue to try to refine the interface so operators can understand our equipment by using it, even if they haven't read the manual," this OEM executive explains.

With a shelf-life of five to ten years, monitor and heart cardiology equipment either are upgraded by the OEMs themselves (then deemed obsolete) or carefully re-furbished by 50 or so companies stateside who correct leakage, updating data, and more.

Mitchell Guier sells only used monitors.

"Monitor technology has developed by leaps and bounds," Guier notes. "Manufacturers are now bundling features. Now, one monitor can perform dozens of diagnostic tests, as opposed to just one or two tests 10 years ago."

All those features demand specific parts and BioMed departments are "scrambling to service the 50 monitors they have in service," Guier says.

According to Randy Lowers, a refurbished ECG can sell for $500 to $500, substantially lower than the low four figures new equipment requires. Lowers, also, is among one of the few refurbishers dealing exclusively with non-domestic sales.

"So far, all of my monitors and EKGs have been export,"

DOTmed Business News did an Industry Sector Report on Flat Panel systems in its February issue.