by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | August 19, 2015
From the August 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Having a parts business is particularly helpful for Digit Systems International, an ISO that works in the European market, where the industry for independent service providers is growing rapidly. Diego de Saint-Albin, managing partner of Digit Systems International, says it’s difficult to access tools and parts in Europe. “It’s not a mature market like it is in the U.S.,” de Saint-Albin says.
“Not only can we train and keep our engineers up to speed with technology, we have all of our tools in-house.” International Medical Equipment & Service (IMES), a parts and training business with a big focus on the Toshiba CT market that was recently acquired by Richardson Electronics Healthcare, offers free expert technical support to the in-house and thirdparty service organizations it trains.
“We’ve been able to take hospitals’ inhouse service groups and show how we can back them up with the support to make their personnel better and stronger,” says Trey McIntyre, founder and general manager of IMES. “When you add that up, you have a stronger, cost-efficient in-house program.”
Good, better, best
Digit Systems International holds two training programs a year through its sister company Tunemedix in Portugal, and stresses the importance of on-the-job experience for its engineers. “While classes provide the basic understanding of the equipment, the troubleshooting exposure actually happens in the field,” de Saint-Albin says. “We promote training plans where engineers are faced with increasingly difficult issues in hospital environments.
The power of that is 10 times greater than sitting in a classroom.” GE Healthcare provides training for the company’s field engineers and customers with in-house service programs, and both groups attend the same classes, says Lewis Richards, director of the Testing Center of Excellence and productivity programs for GE Healthcare Global Services.
Hospitals are also supported by a team of remote technical engineers that assist with the troubleshooting and support for many of the multi-vendorsystems in GE’s installed base. GE also offers tools, such as a problem and solution database with more than 8,000 support entries, remote connectivity to systems to aid in troubleshooting, and electronic performance support tools and materials to help with the quick identification of issues.
“Our training at the Testing Center of Excellence provides the materials, tools, and knowledge that expand modality expertise across whatever multi vendor systems they need to support,” Richards says. “This leverages and maximizes existing talent within a facility.”
