DOCUMENTED COST-SAVING EXAMPLES

Fisher Consulting’s staff of Technical Consultants work vigilantly to safeguard your interests and protect your valuable equipment while saving you money. All of Fisher’s Technical Consultants have extensive high technical service experience.

At one of the largest public hospitals in the United States, preventive maintenance was performed on their ultrasound units, resulting in the OEM’s recommendation that several ultrasound probes be replaced. The total cost for these replacements would be approximately $96,000. Fisher Consulting’s Technical Consultant immediately contacted an Independent Service Organization, who evaluated the probes and found that more than 70% of them were still within original equipment manufacturer’s specification. Only two probes were replaced and purchased from an ISO for additional savings.

Savings to the Hospital: over $77,000.00

At a west coast hosptal, an OEM recommended a major repair to alleviate frequent intermittence on a medical device. The cost of this repair would exceed $286,000. A Fisher Consulting Technical Consultant re-evaluated the OEM’s recommendation and determined that the hospital’s power required some adjustment, and only a minor repair was needed on the medical device. The entire repair cost only $6,000, versus the $286,000, from the OEM with no downtime to the hospital or patient inconvenience.

Savings to the Hospital: $280,000.00

A Hospital in the southeast experienced extensive trouble shooting by the OEM vendor that resulted in replacement of an X-ray tube, a high tension transformer tank assembly as well as tetrode tubes contained inside the tank. A review of the equipment work history lead to the belief that the tank was changed prematurely, and was actually not required to correct the problem. Fisher’s Technical Consultant wrote a detailed analysis of the event, which ultimately required a maintenance report of the supposedly “defective” high-tension tank, which the vendor was unable to produce. Since the vendor was unable to prove that the tank was bad, they ultimately credited the hospital for the amount of the replacement tank.

Savings to the hospital: $47,000.00

In the midwest a hospital experienced a failure of their linear accelerator due to failure of a high voltage waveguide, which had been replaced within the past six months. The company’s regional office tried to invoice the hospital for the part, stating that it was outside of the warranty period. Fisher’s Technical Consultant contacted the company’s headquarters and determined that the warranty was supposed to be based upon filament hours (use), not calendar days. The regional office was confronted as to how they can have a parts warranty policy different than that of the company headquarters?

Savings to the hospital: $39,714.00

Another midwest hospital had the equipment vendor perform preventative maintenance on one of the dual head spec cameras in Nuclear Medicine. Within days, the camera’s performance decreased substantially, as the camera head could not be calibrated properly by the service engineer when they were called back to verify the performance. A problem was detected within one of the major circuit boards and after extensive troubleshooting, repair and calibration resulted in a charge of $46,000. Fisher’s Technical Consultant reviewed the service work and determined that the activities performed during the scheduled preventative maintenance visit actually contributed to the failure.

Savings to the hospital: $33,000.00

A hospital in the southeast had a cracked crystal on a dual-head spect camera. The OEM’s quoted price on the crystal was $50,000, plus installation. The Fisher Technical Consultant found a third party that had an exact replacement for the crystal. He then negotiated the third party price down to $25,000, installed. Armed with this information and still wanting to use the OEM, the department negotiated a price of $35,000, installed, on the new crystal.

Savings to the hospital: $15,000.00 + labor

In the midwest a hospital had an MRI that needed to be put on contract with the OEM. After reviewing our database, the Fisher Technical Consultant negotiated a contract for forty percent less than the OEM’s original offer.

Savings to the hospital: $25,000.00

A southeast hospital noted that all three high-resolution monitors in one of their special procedure rooms were dim, resulting in poor resolution, most likely due to old age. The equipment manufacturer’s cost for replacement CRT’s was quite high, and Fisher’s on-site Technical Consultant was asked for assistance in finding another source. The equipment vendor claimed that there were no other tubes available that could meet the technical performance specifications of their tubes. In order to document performance, an independent video monitor consultant was brought in to measure and compare the performance of the second source CRT, which was found to be more than adequate to meet the needs of the hospital.

Savings to the hospital: $21,600.00

In the midwest a hospital experienced repeated high-tension switch problems that went unnoticed. Review of the data by the Fisher Technical Consultant identified this recurring problem, which led to the hospital negotiating a credit with the manufacturer.

Billing credit to hospital: $32,000.00

Another midwest hospital had a CT Console Monitor in need of repair. The vendor quoted $24,000, to replace the monitor. An alternate source was obtained and the monitor was repaired, including a loaner, for $800.

Savings to the hospital: $23,200.00