By Steven Ford

Previously I shared some principles for negotiating and analyzing imaging service when considering a new vendor.

Now, we will look some principles of how to evaluate your existing vendor.

1. Bigger isn’t always better
When I was running an MR service company, we joked that we tried to present the image that we were bigger than we really were, and that GE pretended that they were smaller than they really were. By that, GE wanted to give the impression that they cared about each customer deeply (which may or may not have been accurate, no criticism of GE), and we wanted the customer to think that we had an immense mountain of resources to address their needs.

The truth is, that large corporations systematize things and they allocate scant resources where it doesn’t pay to do so. If you have older or niche equipment, you can frequently get better service from a good independent source.

2. A hard-working genius alone is not enough
On the other hand, 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. It takes spare parts, experience on that specific machine, documentation, specialty tools, and someone to lean on when things go wrong.

3. Little things mean a lot
If you have a maintenance contract, it gives your service provider space and a budget to do little things. You are reasonable to ask that they’re done. Some parts of the scanner are best cleaned by the serviceman, so ask him to do that if he’s not doing it. The engineer who will glue little broken plastic pieces in place and replace a noisy wheel without nagging is almost always the guy you want taking care of the major things, too.

4. Communication is so important
As a new company manager, I went to a couple radiology department directors and asked them what they valued in service providers and what they hated. A universal sentiment was that it was important for the engineer to keep them informed of what was going on. So, I always tried to err on the side of over-communication. I found that when there was an unavoidable delay that telling the manager promptly usually gained understanding. If you have trouble reaching your service provider, that’s a sign that they don’t understand some basic principles of their job, or they really don’t like their job, or both. That’s a serious red flag. Successful service managers square their shoulders and act promptly to handle the problems of the day.

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