Who Are You?

"Is EcoMed a medical equipment broker, dealer or remarketer?"

I hear this question a lot.  

Whereas most companies in used medical device space fall into one of these three categories, EcoMed does not.    

EcoMed works exclusively with healthcare facilities to resell medical devices removed from clinical use. 

However, our services, business model and principles significantly differ from traditional brokers, dealers, and remarketers of used medical devices.  

I decided EcoMed must support healthcare facilities after studying used medical device market for few years. 

During that time, three facts became clear to me:    

• All hospitals upgrade/replace medical devices.  Most hospitals have no defined process for removing devices they replaced.  
• Most hospitals either traded-in replaced devices to OEM or used "liquidation" to resell them. The hospital staff were seldom pleased with results of either option. 
• Brokers/dealers who bought used devices through "liquidation" all claimed to "pay the most." Some offered cash. All offered free pick up. 

If all brokers/dealers were paying the most (and cash, and free pick up) then why were hospital staff not pleased?  

 

This question sent me on a quest to interview Hospital Supply Chain staff, contract specialists, surgery center owners, department managers and biomedical technicians.
  

 

I discovered the top 2 reasons hospital staff were not pleased with OEM trade-in and broker/dealer liquidations were

1. Lack of transparency
2. Limited trust  

The other consistent issues noted during interviews were:  

• Hospital staff had limited knowledge about used medical device industry.
• Most hospitals were understaffed and employees were juggling too many projects. 
• Staff often agreed to vendor's offer to buy or consign devices without any data to support their decision.   

During one interview, the Director of Purchasing for TN-based healthcare system said:

"When the same vendor who sold us equipment 3 years ago gave a quote to buy it back, it seemed like we were taken for a ride."  

Hospitals lacked partners to guide them through the process of reselling used medical devices.

They didn't have anyone representing their best interests. 

Some hospitals had 10,000+ vendors in their database.  But all these vendors wanted were to either sell an expensive product or service, or buy hospital's devices or supplies for pennies on the dollar.   

Most hospitals followed an outdated approach to reselling devices that gave mediocre results.

They've been stuck in this cycle for decades because there's never time, resources and budget to explore alternatives.   

All these findings lead me to conclude that EcoMed must be established as an advisor and a trusted partner to hospitals. 

We had to become the company to represent hospitals' best interests when it came to reselling medical devices.   

With EcoMed's mission redefined, we embraced the following 3 principles:         

1. ALWAYS advocate for internal redeployment of devices.  Not many vendors will ask "Have you checked if other Departments can use this device?" when you contact them about selling it, but we do.
2. Educate hospital staff how to resell equipment.  Only STANDARDIZED resale process will improve efficiency and revenue.    
3. Provide UNBIASED advice, customized service, and solutions.    

EcoMed is not a broker, dealer or a remarketer. 

 

EcoMed is a healthcare advisers that specializes in medical device resale and decommission. 

Our mission is to empower hospital staff to make decisions that are right for their organizations and patients.

Do you agree that our principles and services place us in a league of our own?

If you're still not convinced, keep an eye out for the next post where I will share 5 reasons that illustrate how EcoMed's business model and principles set us apart from traditional brokers, dealers, and remarketers of used medical devices.

EcoMed works exclusively with hospitals to resell medical devices removed from clinical use.  Even if your hospital has another service provider, you may still have questions, need validation, or resources.  Contact us with any questions you may have about reselling your medical devices.  

To learn more about benefits of being an EcoMed client, send us an email or visit www.ecomedhtm.com.