Was Frost & Sullivan just looking for a spot at the royal court or were these legitimate kudos? Probably the later. F&S conducted interviews with many market players along with their customers and suppliers, and reportedly did extensive research into the medical equipment technology field.

One of the five awards included the regent-like titles of “Medical Imaging Company of the Year”, “New Care Setting of the Year”, and “Medical Imaging Technology of the Year”. The other two were for Technology Leadership and Services Innovation Leadership.

The response of Jouko Karvinen, president and CEO of Philips Medical Systems, to the awards sounded like the equivalent of an industry coronation speech. He stated, “We proudly accept the Frost & Sullivan Awards as an independent validation of Philips business and technology leadership…. These five awards are further indicators that Philips continues to set the industry standard for developing innovative products that help treat patients and save lives.”

Royal Philips. Long live the King!

Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker International, was already a big player in its own right among major global CT suppliers. With Marconi, Philips gained cutting-edge multi-slice CT technology along with cardiology, oncology and PET/CT imaging applications. These two acquisitions in one year landed Philips in the top three for the entire medical equipment industry along with giants Siemens and GE Medical – some say as number two.

In 2005, the growth continued as Philips bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider best-in-class picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). This move allowed Philips to help its clients successfully manage the voluminous amounts of imaging data created by its medical scanners. Then, the following year, the growth continued as Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the largest independent supplier of Cath Lab monitoring and reporting systems.

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has acquired six companies since its inception in 1998. Each of the six has expanded Philips’ offerings to include a total of ten medical imaging modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment as well as image and information management solutions.

Inventory – First and foremost, any medical imaging parts supplier you work with must carry replacement parts for the majority of equipment you maintain. Most suppliers have on-line inventories that can help you determine which suppliers meet most of your medical imaging parts needs.

Warranty – What kind of warranty does the supplier offer? If medical imaging parts are refurbished, who is refurbishing? Is there ISO-based quality control?

Return/Exchange policy – What is their policy for returning a medical imaging part that has been incorrectly ordered? Is there a time limit? Does the company give money back or exchange only?

Shipping – Shipping and handling costs can be the hidden high cost component of the purchase price. Be sure you understand all S&H costs ahead of time. Also, can the company absolutely, positively get you a medical imaging part overnight?

Customer service – Will the company work with you to solve your problem, whatever it is? Is customer service available 24/7? Are there BMETs available to help you trouble shoot medical imaging parts issues if necessary? Use this checklist to evaluate vendors. Select two or three vendors that you can rely on. Do not depend on one vendor for all your needs; remember the “all my eggs in one basket” rule.

Cost is not a straightforward issue. If you search for the lowest cost, you may find yourself with medical imaging parts that are inferior in quality. However, you certainly don’t want to get burned by paying premium prices if you don’t have to. There are two considerations you can make. First, is the medical imaging part inherently complex so that you should apply a “get what you pay for” principle and buy premium? Or, is the part rather simple so that the “plain vanilla” low cost version will do. Second, is the amount of money you will need to spend significant enough to warrant the work? Look at the range of prices in the marketplace. If there is a general range, that probably means that you will be paying about the same price everywhere, so go ahead and buy the medical imaging part based on other criteria. If there are dramatic highs and lows, you need to understand why these differences exist. For example, is the low priced supplier able to keep his overhead so low that everything is a bargain? Great! Or is he selling inferior product?

For the raging medical imaging equipment and parts cost, it is indeed wise to research the market, compare from suppliers and study how you can get an affordable yet equally high-grade medical imaging supplies.