Talk about flipping the script. The AAMI eXchange session “To Regulate or Not: Medical Device Servicing—Reversal” did exactly that.

Binseng Wang, principal consultant with BSI Consulting, LLC, and longtime Right-to-Repair advocate, defended manufacturers, while G. Wayne Moore, CEO of Acertara Acoustic Laboratories and former chair of the service committee for the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, argued on behalf of third-party servicers. Priyanka Sollinger, vice president of cybersecurity services at Asimily, moderated the session—serving as what she jokingly called “the firewall.”

Sollinger said the format, a departure from previous AAMI eXchange debates between the two, was designed to help audiences better understand both benefits and risks while encouraging compromise. The reversal, she noted, allowed Wang and Moore to switch roles and surface vulnerabilities in each side’s arguments.
What followed was lively and, at times, revealing.

Sollinger opened by asking whether non–OEM-authorized servicers are inherently less safe due to training and regulatory gaps. Wang, speaking from a manufacturer perspective, pointed to the absence of a uniform licensing or credentialing framework for medical equipment service. “We don’t have a uniform rule for people who want to touch medical equipment,” he said. “You guys aren’t licensed by anybody.”

Moore, advocating for third-party servicers, countered that OEMs already rely on external providers to fill service gaps across field and depot-level work, often to manage internal capacity constraints.

He also pushed back on the idea of an adversarial relationship between OEMs and independent servicers. “It does, at first glance, seem like there’s an antagonistic relationship,” Moore said, “but that’s not always the case.” Friction, he added, often emerges when healthcare technology management teams are pulled between competing expectations.

Wang acknowledged partial alignment between the two sides, noting that OEM views on third-party servicing vary widely across the industry.

Sollinger agreed that competency and oversight concerns extend across the entire servicing ecosystem, not just third-party providers. The focus, she said, should be on how all service providers are evaluated and regulated. “We need standards,” she said.

Discussion then shifted to performance and accountability. Moore said third-party organizations support reasonable oversight and consistent standards, emphasizing that “there needs to be rules in place.” Sollinger noted that the industry still lacks sufficient data to make definitive comparisons, though OEMs retain advantages through broader access to service information and system data.

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