By Cindy Juhas
Three questions to ask your vendor
Because of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals are under increasing pressure to reduce costs while increasing the quality of care and patient satisfaction they provide. This means that medical equipment procurement has to be as efficient as possible to help keep overall hospital costs down.
Selecting the equipment you need may be the most clear-cut part of the process. But you can end up paying too much if you fail to address some of the associated – hidden – costs.
So how do you uncover these hidden costs and ensure you know what you’re paying for? Ask your vendor these three questions.
Question 1: What is covered in the delivery charge?
Clarify not only if the delivery charge is included, but what it includes:
- Is the delivery listed as FOB (freight on board) at the manufacturer’s location, at a local warehouse, or to the hospital itself?
- Does the charge cover transportation and delivery all the way to the end use area of the facility?
- Does it include the cost of returning the equipment if there’s a problem?
- If the vendor uses a delivery service, will that cost be passed on to you?
- Is the delivery schedule clear and known to the facility?
Other unexpected costs could arise from having to have staff work after hours to receive the delivery. Be sure to understand the delivery logistics and plan your staffing accordingly.
Question 2: What are the assembly/installation requirements?
Depending on the equipment, there may be electric, HVAC, or structural changes needed to properly install the item at the end user site. Is any of this provided and/or included in the cost of the item?
Testing and verifying that the equipment works properly also needs to be done, and may or may not be covered in the delivery charge. Testing the equipment promptly is imperative in case the equipment needs to be replaced or repaired prior to use. If your facility does not have its own biomed engineering crew available, this could be a real issue.
Question 3: What are the costs for disposal of the replaced equipment and shipping materials?
Some equipment items may actually be reusable, and therefore re-sellable. This could mean a trade-in price reduction for the new item. Otherwise, there could be a cost to dispose of it properly. Asking about disposal will help you uncover hidden costs, and ensure that disposal is planned for and so doesn’t cause storage space issues after the new item is installed.
That aside, most major equipment items will be delivered in shipping crates or other shipping materials. The disposal of these shipping materials may entail additional costs as well.
Asking questions about the entire delivery process, from manufacturer to end user site, will help make the delivery and installation process happen as expected and free of costly surprises.
Cindy Juhas is chief strategy officer for Claflin Medical Equipment, a full-service medical equipment distributor, which provides direct-to-site logistics services for hospitals, clinics, physician offices, government facilities, etc., across the United States. She may be reached at 800-221-7265 x602.