1 4 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7
was a green pepper — the
kind you'd find in the pro-
duce aisle of any grocery
store — that helped seal
the deal. When the vendor
scoped the pepper to illus-
trate the level of detail our
surgeons would have in
every OR, the board mem-
bers were astonished.
They quickly reached a consensus: "OK, we're sold. We don't need to go any fur-
ther."
Of course, we'd done a lot of work on both sides of the table up to that point.
As part of our due diligence, surgeons had spent the better part of a month learn-
ing the system. They were emphatic in their praise and confident the system
would provide clear advantages in terms of surgical precision and patient safety.
With some technological investments, it can be difficult to justify to a value-
analysis committee — people who aren't going to be using the technology every
day — why one system is worth the investment, and why option A is worth
more than option B. This was not one of those cases. I think the vendor's board-
room visit and positive reviews from our surgical team were defining factors in
cost-justifying the system.
4. Always ask for more
It turned out that not only did we get the best picture that our surgeons wanted,
but we also got an optimal price and an attractive service contract. Ms. Ertel is a
savvy negotiator, and she taught me to be aggressive when it comes to war-
ranties. We had negotiated the warranty and service contract on the system
from the very beginning, with both vendors. We also negotiated a supply-pur-
chasing package with built-in 2 to 3% rebates based on how much we spend on
• DIFFERENT VIEWS Vetting multiple vendors can help to determine the best option in
terms of surgical precision and patient safety.
