Contraption protection: How to get your money's worth and safeguard that new equipment

Whether it be medical machines or computer software, getting the right warranty can be key to your peace of mind.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. Aug. 8, 2005.

To the chagrin of Inam Rahman, MD, a solo internist and sports medicine physician in Hawaii, the expensive refurbished machine he uses to measure patients' bone density broke down just after its one-year warranty expired.

The manufacturer offered to repair the machine, which had cost $60,000, for $10,000 and -- to the doctor's surprise -- sell an annual warranty for another $10,000. Dr. Rahman, president of the Hawaii Medical Assn., passed on both offers. "If I had known the price of the warranty [and repair] at the time [of purchase], I wouldn't have bought the machine, because I'd have known then that I'd not have been able to generate enough income to afford it," Dr. Rahman said.

Doctors are so focused on cost when they buy electronic medical records software, hardware and medical equipment for their office that they often don't pay as much attention to warranty-related issues as they should, according to industry experts. That's a big mistake, because "if you only look at the cost" without factoring in the warranty, you could end up in a tough situation, said Margret Amatayakul, president of Margret\A Consulting LLC, a Schaumburg, Ill.-based health care technology consulting firm.

Under their warranties, vendors basically state that their products will work as specified in the user manuals and offer remedies, including repair and replacement, if they break down during the warranty period. "If you misuse or use software in ways it wasn't intended [under your contract with the vendor], then it's all over; you've lost all protection at that point," said Rosemarie Nelson, a health care technology consultant in Syracuse, N.Y.