Rent Or Purchase - Obtaining Medical Equipment For Your Company

By Author: Steve W Kemp
Total Articles: 6
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The choice of whether to rent or buy medical equipment for your facility might seem like an easy one or perhaps a daunting one depending on your experience. The advantages to each strategy are based on the needs of your company. Let's examine some of the pros and cons to each option, to help you decide how to obtain medical equipment for your company.

Buying Medical Equipment
Buying medical equipment may be the first option your facility considers. Many companies might consider buying the more effective strategy. There are several pros to buying equipment. If you buy equipment, you could potentially have a lower long term cost, due to reduced ongoing expenses. If you buy your equipment, you don't have to rely on another company to have equipment available for you to rent. This ensures that you always have equipment, with one caveat and probably one of the biggest cons to buying equipment.

If you buy your equipment rather than rent it, one of the biggest drawbacks is that your company will be responsible for repairs, maintenance and service of your equipment. When considering whether to rent or buy, ...
... the long term costs of repairs and maintenance must be added to the already high upfront cost of purchasing your equipment. Another drawback to buying medical equipment is you will need to have the storage space to keep your equipment on hand for when it is needed.

Renting Medical Equipment
Renting medical equipment has some compelling benefits. First, you can avoid paying for equipment that you don't need. If you have an influx of patients that need a piece of equipment, you can quickly scale up to meet the demand. Conversely, if many patients leave your facility, you can discontinue your rental equipment and save money. The second benefit of renting is that you don't have to service and repair your own equipment. This can be a big benefit, because you don't have to hire a team to provide this service for you. The last benefit is that some government programs provide better reimbursement for renting equipment rather than purchasing.

There are a few drawbacks to renting medical equipment. When renting you must rely on another company to supply your ventilators. This can mean that there may be times when your rental company is out of a specific piece of equipment. If you need to rent a piece of equipment which is not already at your facility, you will not have instant access but have to wait for it to be delivered to your facility.

Make sure your company runs the numbers to see which option makes sense. Keep in mind the pros and cons as you develop an equipment strategy for your facility. You may find that a hybrid approach works well. Having a good base amount of equipment at your company and expanding as needed with rental equipment, may be the best approach. However, you approach your equipment at your facility, keep in mind that you are not locked in. With some work, you can switch from one strategy to another and see which works for you. It is easier to switch from renting equipment to buying equipment, because you will not have to sell equipment. When renting, You can simply discontinue the equipment and switch to purchasing your equipment. Best of luck as you develop your equipment strategy at your facility.

Medical Support Products Inc is a respiratory medical supplies dealer and online retailer since 1989. We sell, service and repair ventilators, concentrators, BiPAPs, CPAPs, smart monitors and more. We also buy used respiratory equipment. Our used respiratory equipment is cleaned and ready to use. For more details, please visit www.mspinc.com.