Old imaging equipment never dies, it just falls into the hands of refurbishers. The practice of refurbishing imaging equipment is not new. A U.S. market study conducted in 2006 by IMV showed that 30% of all hospitals and 39% of nonhospital imaging facilities had at least one refurbished modality. Those percentages are likely to rise as the demand for refurbished units grows while the national economy shrinks.

Every healthcare facility now faces the same dilemma: how to deliver more efficient healthcare with less money. But hospitals keen on investing in new high-end imaging equipment find that budgetary constraints compounded by a staggering national economy are obstructing new purchases. Traditional sources of financing have dried up with the collapse of the bond market, and buying behavior has therefore changed. Sites are looking at what they can afford, not just what they need.

A growing number of facilities desperate to upgrade are finding refurbished medical imaging equipment to be a good alternative. Customers who before the crisis may have wanted a 64-slice CT now see that a refurbished 16-slice system is a better financial fit.

Stand-alone imaging centers and outpatient clinics, along with hospitals of 300 beds or less, provide the target market for refurbished equipment companies. In the U.S., GE, Philips, and Siemens run some of the largest refurbishing operations.

Bread-and-butter imaging centers not engaged in demanding research activities often find that it makes more sense to go with refurbished equipment, rather than the more expensive new modalities favored by large tertiary hospitals and academic medical centers. Even those elite institutions often obtain one or two refurbished scanners to serve as backup during maintenance on production units or to augment front-line modalities during periods of peak patient flow. As a result, refurbished equipment vendors see the market expanding even in the largest hospitals.

ATTRACTIVE OPTION

Blue Star Imaging of Flower Mound, TX, the official imager of the Dallas Cowboys, recently acquired a refurbished Siemens MR (RS Magnetom Espree) and a Siemens CT (RS Sensation 16) to augment six other imaging modalities spread over two sites. Rae McGarrity, Blue Mound's director of operations, called the decision to go with refurbished equipment price-driven.

“The equipment was only a couple of years old and completely refurbished,” McGarrity said. “To us, it was almost like buying a brand new piece of equipment.”

Any stigma attached to refurbished imaging equipment is largely unwarranted. Buying pieces sold as-is may be risky, but refurbished equipment comes with the same warranties and supports the same clinical applications as new units. Refurbished equipment customers get the same clinical functionality, throughput, performance, and service uptime as new equipment customers receive.