Thursday, June 5, 2014

Facts About Renting Medical Equipment

By Lila Bryant


The practice of medical service requires investment in some of the most sophisticated and rather expensive machines. The individuals and organizations that specialize in this field need the latest tools if they are to realize the best impact, particularly on their patients. Nevertheless, obtaining medical implements is a rather daunting task due to the high costs involved. Also, the tools are often rendered obsolete sooner than expected. It is because of this that many health facilities have resorted to renting medical equipment.

One can rent a wide variety of these instruments. Some of the tools you can rent include surgical implements, MRI machines, EMR software, computers, X-ray and ultrasound machines, imaging and diagnostic instruments, surgery tables among others. However, before embarking on this agreement, it is important to consider some vital factors, as illustrated below.

First and foremost, closely analyze the financial implications of both a buy and rent decision. This is the surest way to enhance the most effective financial decision. It entails the prices of the concerned products across various major manufacturers and dealers while comparing with lease quotes from the medical leasing companies.

In order to undertake a complete financial analysis, ensure to gather all your pertinent financial information into one place. The data is then used to analyze the viability and feasibility of a particular investment. Gathering the data is particularly important as it enables you to identify and estimate the incremental cash flows associated with the investment. Incremental cash flows simply mean the additional expenses and revenues as a result of the investment. This indicates how a single investment will improve the overall performance of your business, as opposed to a mere analysis of whether a particular investment is profitable on its own.

Although many businesses usually stop here, this should not be the case. You should further evaluate the data with other such analyses as break even, payback value and net present value. The long term and short term implications of a given investment can only be evidenced through this evaluation, including the payback period.

However, it is worth considering that the cost of renting is, to a better extent, determined by the rate of the lease. It is therefore necessary to put in mind the factors influencing medical equipment lease rates. One such vital factor is the period of the lease. Before making the decision to rent, ascertain the period you are going to rent the equipment and evaluate the financial implications.

Before renting, one should also consider the frequency of service (repair) and the type of the lease (capital or operating lease). For maintenance, consider the service schedule; the number of times and how convenient it is. Does it allow on-site servicing or must it be taken in for repair? Capital leases (with capital allowances and residual ownership) are more expensive compared to operating leases (are pure rental agreements).

All in all, the resultant decision should be a win-win situation. The project so undertaken must be beneficial not only to your practice, but also to the ultimate client. The customer should reap from the comfort and affordability associated with the decision. For the business, it ought to be in line with the future plans and compare well with other alternative foregone opportunities in the practice.




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