As the U.S. economy slugs along, many companies are struggling to find ways to be profitable. However, one group that isn't becoming aggressive in their methods to generate revenue is the medical-industry OEMs. I recently experienced this phenomenon firsthand with a trusted OEM, which decided not to include preventive maintenances (PMs) during the warranty period. I'm sharing my story because I feel that everyone should be aware of this.

Nowadays, it seems like most issues start with an e-mail. Case in point: Our anesthesia machine vendor notified me that our units were coming off warranty and that a service contract was recommended to keep the units running to OEM specifications. As usual, I thanked the vendor for the e-mail and started a dialog about contract options and pricing.

As I was working out the details of our service options with the contract sales rep, I felt a sense of urgency to make a decision. I initially sensed that he was just trying to make his end-of-the-quarter numbers and that there wasn’t any real urgency to make a decision. As I tried to slow the negotiations down, the contract sales rep stated that the units would need PMs soon and that they would be out of certification. At that point, I felt like I needed more information and told the contract rep that I would call him back shortly.

I then asked my technician to pull all of the PM recorders on the anesthesia units to find out when the units were actually due. To my surprise, the OEM hadn’t performed a PM on the units since they were installed. Confused, I contacted the OEM service rep and asked why the units hadn’t been PM’ed under warranty? I also asked him to explain the recommended frequency. He said, without missing a beat, that his company (the OEM) doesn’t do PMs under warranty anymore. Instead, PMs must be purchased at the time of sale, and his company recommends that they be performed semiannually. I then explained to the rep that nobody notified us of that fact. He calmly said that it was a sales issue.

I promptly called my sales rep about the situation and asked if it was true that PMs weren’t performed during warranty anymore. She immediately recognized that I was unhappy and that she never told me that important piece of information. I then asked how someone could recommend PMs be done on a semiannual basis and then not follow their own recommendations during the warranty period? She had no real answer. At that point, I started informing the purchasing people, anesthesiologists and the vice president in charge of our purchasing contract about the issue. They were just as surprised as I was that PMs were not included. After a barrage of e-mails from the aforementioned group, the salesperson admitted that it was her job to tell us that fact, but she had forgotten.

With a little negotiating, we were able to get the annual PM included under warranty; they said that the semiannual was just a function-check, so it wasn’t as important. However, I still find it difficult to understand how an OEM can tell someone that they recommend PMs semiannually, make a case that a service contract is necessary to keep the unit operational and PMs up-to-date per their specifications, and then fail to do them under warranty. This information would have been very useful to know as we evaluated different units for purchase. After all, the additional cost for under-warranty PMs could have swayed the decision to purchase these units from the competition.

Sadly, as I write this article, we have had a second issue from another company that has decided not to do PMs under warranty. And, again, I have found this out after the fact. Fortunately, my staff is trained on the unit (gas module), enabling us to PM the items ourselves. Still, it’s costing us money for PM kits that should have been covered under warranty. It seems that this is a growing trend.

Moving forward, we are adding a “Must Include PMs Under Warranty” clause to every new equipment purchase order. I would recommend all Medical Dealer readers do the same. The cost of a PM could be enough to change your selection and, if the PM isn’t done, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or the U.S. Department of Health could cite you. As companies try to improve their bottom lines, I can see that this is a real issue for biomedical departments. In the future, however, we need to ensure that this is on our radar so we’re not unpleasantly surprised.

Jim Fedele, CBET, has been with the Medical Dealer magazine for more than 10 years. He is currently the director of clinical engineering for Susquehanna Health Systems in Williamsport, Pa. He can be reached for questions and/or comments by e-mail at info@mdpublishing.com.