Joe Graham, vice president of Service for Enterprise and Strategic Business Groups at Toshiba, says, “We have fulfilled some customers’ requests, over the years, to allow a transition between Service agreement programs. The FLEX plan formalizes that model, giving customers the flexibility to craft an agreement according to their own requirements, moving from model to model and customizing their own solutions.”

The FLEX plan encompasses two service agreement models: Toshiba’s InTouch Full Security Agreement (which provides full protection for imaging systems, fixed-price support and customized Service solutions) and the InTouch Partnership Agreement (which allows hospitals to balance fixed and variable service costs while benefiting from discounted rates on parts and labor).

Graham explains the FLEX plan arose out of hospitals’ need to balance the technical expertise of in-house biomedical-engineering staff against vendor support. “The real catalyst for transitioning back and forth generally has more to do with clinical engineering manpower changes than anything else,” he says. “If the hospital didn’t have anyone who worked on CT, and then it hired someone, that would necessitate a change—or if it had someone, but the person resigned or took another position, the hospital would need to move away from a partnership agreement and back to a full-service model.”

The FLEX plan allows customers to secure fixed price points for both the full-service model and the partnership model, giving them the freedom to move back and forth between the two as often as necessary over a five-year equipment life cycle. “We identify the lowest prices, and the hospital is guaranteed that over the course of the agreement,” Graham says. “What’s unique about this plan is the hospital knows, from the outset, what it is going to pay for whatever service model they choose. That’s really the advantage of formalizing a flexible service agreement.”

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