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John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | June 14, 2019
From the June 2019 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Those clients can be surprised by what is involved if they are not familiar with this type of project,” he said. “Earlier this year I did a project where the imaging center management, despite upfront discussions, still did not realize that an entire section of windows needed to be removed. It worked out okay, but I had to walk them through the process a day before rigging out.”
Deinstallation comes with its own set of needs. Craig Diener, senior product manager for Universal Medical Resources cited several checklist points of preparation for a deinstallation. An inventory of the system, including system components, workstations, peripherals, software, and manuals needs to be included. If the client plans to sell their used system, they should allow three to six months to get the best sale price. The market primarily drives demand at any given time for specific machines, so be aware of what a unit is worth.
Russ Knowles overseeing a REMETRONIX job
at Atlanta Proton
Another crucial step is to remove patient data, not just removing any hard drives. The offer price for a system can be lower if the hard drives are removed, so Diener recommends working with a company specializing in data scrubbing.
Even with proper preplanning, unexpected obstacles will appear. Diener said it's important not to panic.
“Common issues can include such factors as the site plans to keep a workstation, but the removal crew was not notified. Or the elevator is too small, or the system is not the model advertised,” he said.
In such cases, the site leader and de-installation leader should call their managers and let them resolve the issues. This could cause a slight delay in the process. But he stressed it's best to let the negotiating parties manage the discrepancy, and come to an agreement so the removal can stay on schedule.
Diener also advises planning a deinstallation well in advance.
“We receive many requests from customers and brokers who have a system for sale and the last sentence from them is that it has to come out next week." He said. "We run several de-installation teams and try to accommodate last minute removals if possible."
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