Try before you buy
James Stannard, MD, medical director of the Missouri Orthopaedic
Institute in Columbia, knew the video system in his 7-year-old facility
was reaching the end of its lifespan. "We were faced with a choice —
upgrade with the same vendor or opt for a new one," says Dr.
Stannard.
He had 4 vendors, including a rep from the maker of the facility's
original imaging system, come in to pitch the features and benefits of
their products. Trying out the systems before making a decision had a
big influence on which vendors made the final cut. Only 2 of the ven-
dors brought in systems that the surgeons could check out during
their pitches. When it came down to deciding which system to go
with, the 2 vendors who brought in platforms the surgeons could trial
were the only ones Dr. Stannard and his colleagues considered.
"We let our orthopedic surgeons decide which system they liked
best and ended up going with a different vendor," says Dr. Stannard.
The new vendor offered a 4K system that had remarkably better pic-
ture quality than their old 1080p HD system.
Missouri Orthopaedic didn't spend more to switch vendors. "One
system had a more expensive maintenance contract, while the other
had a higher up-front cost," explains Dr. Stannard. "So the total invest-
ment ended up being roughly equivalent."
It's admittedly difficult to trial video platforms if the space where
they'll be used hasn't been built yet. Henderson (Nev.) Hospital is part
of a large, established healthcare chain. When the hospital's leader-
ship began planning to build a new surgery center, they had already
spent years trialing different video platforms in their sister facilities.
They knew exactly what features they needed — superior image qual-
ity for the surgeons and a user-friendly interface for the staff — but
that didn't mean they knew exactly what they were getting when con-
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