From the July 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Post-warranty support
Purchasing multiyear service agreements to cover systems and transducers is highly recommended. The AHA guideline for the life of ultrasound systems is estimated to be five years. However, with planned maintenance, many systems outlive the expectancy and are in use well beyond five years. Service agreement pricing can vary just as widely as ultrasound system configuration, with agreements ranging in types of coverage to what is included in the coverage.
A significant support cost in ultrasound is attributed to transducers. These are replaced, often with refurbished probes returned from other clients. Most vendors offer levels of support in transducer coverage for wear and tear and failure (WF); wear and tear, failure, and damage (WFD); or accidental probe damage replacement. This coverage may be pooled or tiered for a fixed number of replacements over a specified term stated in the contract. Typically, transducer coverage is not included in the standard warranty vendors offer. Ultrasound systems are dependent on transducers to produce images; therefore, consideration of post-warranty options and transducer coverage is recommended at point of sale in equipment purchases, especially for expensive endocavitary and specialty probes, versus attempting to negotiate post-warranty options after purchase.
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Ultrasound utilization continues to grow as it is a less costly, more accessible diagnostic tool with no radiation exposure compared to other expensive options such as CT, MR, and other radiation-based imaging modalities. Vendors are investing in research and development, and the OB/GYN ultrasound market will continue to grow in correlation with the technological advances in this market. Key areas of growth include improvements to workflow, image quality, and system and component design ergonomics. These are areas customers should consider when investing in purchases, along with considerations of capital cost, maintenance, and software updates and upgrades.
About the author: Krys Lee is a clinical advisor for ultrasound and cardiovascular ultrasound imaging, research and analysis with symplr. With deployments in 9 out of every 10 U.S. hospitals, symplr is the leader in enterprise healthcare software and services.
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