Mediq has placed an experienced outpatient imaging services executive in charge of its imaging equipment maintenance business. J. Thomas Owings, president of Mediq Diagnostic and Treatment Centers (MDTC), last month became president of Mediq Engineering and Maintenance Services (MEMS) as well. MEMS is located in Dallas and MDTC is based at Mediq corporate headquarters in Pennsauken, NJ.
MEMS was one of the independent service organizations that settled lawsuits with GE this month (see story, page one), but the ISO was not embroiled in drawn-out, expensive litigation like ISO competitor R Squared Scan Systems. Instead, MEMS wrote its own advanced diagnostics software for the maintenance of GE 9800 computed tomography scanners, which the firm started using about a year ago.
"Mediq has not spent a lot of money and time in litigation. We spent our resources instead developing proprietary software," he said.
The settlement between R Squared and GE will be a boon to all ISOs. GE has, in effect, added legitimacy and viability to the third-party service business, Owings said.
"From my perspective, (GE's settlement) makes it easier to plan for the strategic growth of this business. It eliminates a lot of uncertainty," he said.
Price cutting of service contracts will continue to be a factor in ISO competition, he predicted, although ISOs with sufficient financial and technical resources may be able to compete more on the service quality.
"(ISOs) that are smaller and less well equipped will probably continue to compete largely on the basis of price," he said.
Mediq should also have a competitive advantage in its position as an imaging services provider as well as an equipment maintenance firm, Owings said.
"We are able to view the world from both sides of the fence: as a provider of diagnostic services to patients and as an independent service organization. This enables us to better understand the needs of an imaging services provider," he said.
