Whether you own a small clinic or are just concerned about the state of the medical equipment in your doctor’s office, it’s reasonable to wonder if used and refurbished medical equipment is as reliable and useful as brand new or slightly used equipment. Keep reading to find out the answer.
What Does Refurbished Mean?
According to entrepreneur.com, in terms of equipment, something being refurbished implies that it was previously owned. It is possible that the item could have been broken before, but that is not always the case. Whether the item was broken before or not, being refurbished means that the piece of equipment has been restored in such a way that it is like-new.
What Goes Into Refurbishing Medical Equipment?
What goes into refurbishing something depends on the refurbishing company that is hired. When it comes to medical equipment, reputable refurbishing companies will always adhere to FDA standards. According to amcimedical.com, run by a company that specialized in refurbishing X-Ray machines, the standards they follow include evaluating the equipment before and after refurbishing, “restarting the lifecycle” of the equipment and restoring the equipment’s appearance.
Why Buy Refurbished Medical Equipment?
Often times, refurbished items are cheaper to buy than entirely new items. This is simply because the items were pre-owned. For the most part, a refurbished item and a new item (of the same make and model) should operate in the same way and just as well as the other.
So, to sum everything up, if a piece of equipment (medical or not) has been refurbished in a way that adheres to the FDA’s requirements, then that piece of equipment should work just as well as a new piece of equipment of the same make, model, and year. For this reason, clinics can save money by buying refurbished equipment without reducing the quality of the care they provide!