A Requirement of Reliability
“Our patient load is growing an average of 26 percent per year,” says Scott Daigle, administrative director of Radiology at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. “We’re a 24/7 facility, and we’re just as busy at night as we are during the day. That’s why we have to have dependable equipment. And the more the population grows, the more equipment we’ll need.”
Tommy Broussard, CT supervisor for Memorial Hospital, describes the situation in pointed terms. “Uptime is everything. If just one of the three CT scanners we have goes down for any length of time, we’re backed up for at least a day. So we need service and equipment we can count on.”
“We’re looking for a quality, reliable piece of equipment that meets our needs,” adds Richard Martinez, MD, medical director of Radiology at Memorial Hospital. “It has to be safe, current, proven, and complete with the essential imaging features we need, plus the ability to upgrade.”
Through its recent acquisitions of Siemens ecoline refurbished equipment, Memorial is achieving all those goals—at a surprisingly affordable cost.
Making the Refurbished Decision
When Memorial’s staff decided to increase its radiology capabilities, they investigated a number of possibilities. “We received a number of proposals,” Daigle recalls, “but Siemens gave us the option of their refurbished ecoline equipment. That represented a significant savings for us, which made it worth considering. We also liked the idea that it was an environmentally friendly option—adding the latest technological components while upcycling the encasement.”
However, the radiology staff was hesitant to purchase pre-owned medical equipment. The hospital had previously acquired a used system through a third party and, according to Daigle, “We had trouble with that unit. It definitely wasn’t refurbished. The third-party vendor had to replace some critical components, and there was a lot of downtime. We didn’t want that experience again.”
With that in mind, the decision-makers at Memorial weighed the refurbished option carefully. “We had faith in Siemens already, and what we learned about ecoline is you’re basically getting a new piece of equipment. It’s got the refurbished name on it, but it’s been torn apart and put back together. It’s been serviced, it has the newest software, and it’s upgradable. It has everything that the new machines have. You’re getting it at a substantial cost savings, and there is no difference in output quality for patient tests.”
Date: Jul 01, 2015
