Jan 06

DIGITEC
Your end-to-end mammo solution provider
by Julie Williamson

It’s an understatement to say that Digitec Medical Service Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA, is unique in the breast imaging sector of radiology. When the company was created some 23 years ago, dealers showed little interest in distributing or servicing mammography equipment. That opportunity opened the door to Digitec’s development and focus on breast imaging. Today, Digitec is leading the way with innovative solutions for service, support, parts and breast imaging systems.

Digitec began operations in 1982. Since its inception, Digitec has steadily grown and evolved into a one-stop, end-to-end mammography solution provider. The company, led by James McGinty, continues to set the bar – and raise it – for quality mammography equipment, parts and service.

Here McGinty offers insight into how Digitec has evolved, why customers benefit from an ISO that specializes in one modality, and how the company is broadening its borders to become a true leader in breast imaging services.

Q: How has the scope of Digitec’s offerings evolved over the last 23 years?
A: Our initial focus was sales and service but we realized early on that mammography support required particular attention and effort. In addition to routine technical support, our customers needed assistance with regulatory compliance and bridging the gap between the technical and clinical components of breast imaging. Our customers wanted a single provider for all aspects of mammography support. For Digitec, this meant staying current with technological advances in the systems and FDA / ACR regulations.

Through it all, Digitec has evolved into a true end-to-end analog solution provider for mammography facilities. The next step is to become an end-to-end digital provider, as well. We’re already making strides in that area.

Q: What else sets Digitec apart from other companies that offer breast imaging solutions?
A: First and foremost, it’s our focus. By concentrating exclusively on mammography we have developed the knowledge and expertise to work on all brands of systems. We are somewhat unique in the industry. Though there are other organizations offering mammography solutions, they are not similarly focused on mammo. Other companies tend to be more generalized - working with various types of radiology equipment. Our approach is different and we feel very strongly about focusing our efforts and doing it better than anyone else. Our philosophy is to do one thing very well, not many things halfheartedly.

Additionally, our customer service is exceptional. We fully back what we service and sell with technical support and a warranty that surpasses that of most other companies. We pride ourselves on really listening to our customers; asking the right questions to determine the best solution for their unique needs. It isn’t one size fits all.
It’s important to note that quality is always our primary focus. We recently heard from one of our customers that our out-of-box failure rate is less than one percent. This is significantly better than the parts industry’s average nationally. That confirmed the quality we’ve been providing them – and to our other customers, as well. We always aim to set the bar high, but it’s great when your customers confirm just how well you are meeting your goals.

Q: What products and services, specifically, does Digitec offer?
A: We are truly a complete end-to-end analog mammography solution provider for our customers. First, we offer pre-owned systems. Our reconditioning methods were developed for each specific brand and model of mammography system. We are thorough and complete. Every system we ship includes calibration documentation and “proving films” which demonstrate performance and compliance with all applicable state and MQSA regulations. We don’t simply ship and hope the unit will pass the physicists inspection. We guarantee it will. Our warranty begins after the unit has been accepted by the physicist.

Digitec is also an authorized distributor of S&S viewers and the iCAD Second Look™ computer-aided detection systems. Here again we have chosen to focus our attention and product offerings on items that complement breast imaging as well as the strengths and experience of our company.

A unique parts and technical support program sets Digitec apart from others in the industry. The foundation of our program is our testing area. In our office, we have set up 15 dedicated individual quality control operating bays. Each bay has a fully functional specific brand and model mammography system. This allows us to fully test all parts before we ship. If a customer requires assistance with part installation or troubleshooting, we are ready to help. Each bay has its own phone, power, documentation, and test equipment. This enables our engineers to assist our customers in real time. Our parts exchange program provides fully tested functional parts at about 50% of the cost of OEM prices.

Another distinctive offering from Digitec is our Hero Kit, a very popular offering with our customers. If we are unable to pinpoint exactly which part our customer needs, we will ship all parts that may be needed. This enables our customers to quickly solve their problems. And to reduce their costs, the unused parts may be returned without a restocking fee. They simply pay for the parts they need.

In today’s highly competitive medical service environment our goal is to provide our customers with the lowest total cost of ownership for their mammography systems. This is a key consideration for any mammo facility, large or small.

Q: Digitec is becoming known for its nationwide quality service. Can you tell us a bit about that?
A: We offer outstanding service and have a loyal following in the southeast. What many do not realize, though, is Digitec is a national service organization. We are pushing our support services west and north to cover the entire country. Hospitals, imaging centers and bio-med groups around the nation need to know that there is a mammography-specific independent service organization that can meet their needs; the OEM isn’t their only option. Digitec can travel from one side of the country to the other and still save the customer money over their local OEM provider. We can come in and perform all the work ourselves or act in a supporting role to assist an in-house staff or local service organization. We are ready to help in any way possible.

Q: What sort of growth has Digitec experienced from a facility and staff standpoint?
A: We have doubled our facility size within the last 18 months and we’re looking to do it again. We have recently opened our training facility, with dedicated machines and training areas for quality, multi-vendor mammography technical training. Our presentations are state of the art and it is easy for our students to stay connected while they attend training. Our classroom is equipped with an overhead projection system, Bluetooth technology and wifi capability. And believe it or not, the seats in our classroom are massage chairs.

In two years, we’ve more than doubled our staff. Recently we added a stereotactic specialist to our service force. For years, customers have been asking us to help them with their biopsy tables. We didn’t just jump into it, we steadily advanced our capabilities. Now that we are ready, we are proud to offer a quality alternative to OEM service for stereo tables.

The bottom line on all of this growth is that it has enabled Digitec to hire specialists to handle specific tasks or technologies. This goes a long way in ensuring quality and meeting our customers’ evolving needs.

Q: What’s in the future for Digitec?
A: As we discussed, we have been providing first-rate quality, end-to-end analog mammography solutions for some time. The next step is to offer complete digital solutions as well. We are already providing partial PACS solutions. One example is feeding digital images to PACS servers with the iCAD product line. Over the next few months we expect to announce some key alliances allowing us to expand our product line to include some mammography-specific PACS solutions. The goal is to be everyone’s one-stop-shop for all their mammography needs.

I also indicated we will continue expanding our service area beyond the Southeast. Many mammography centers across the country have benefited from our expertise and very competitive rates.

Above all, whether we are talking about technology or geography, we are not going to sacrifice quality for growth.

For more information about
Digitec Medical, call 800-344-4832 or visit www.digitecmedical.com.