Canon Medical Systems: Trusted healthcare adviser status sets company apart

How do you work with healthcare organizations?

At Canon Medical Systems USA, we believe in constant innovation to meet healthcare’s evolving challenges. However, our greatest strength lies in our ability to develop trusted relationships with healthcare organizations.

We believe we can do more for healthcare organizations by being a trusted partner. To achieve this goal, Canon continually seeks opportunities to move beyond a transactional relationship with customers toward a true partnership through our highly responsive, highly innovative approach to service, financing and education.

Naturally, customers’ requirements have changed during the pandemic as we all seek to provide the safest environment possible for patients, clinicians and staff. Canon works with its clients to follow protocols around preventative maintenance calls and other activities that keep their systems running optimally.

What are some of the biggest challenges affecting healthcare organizations in the imaging space — and how is Canon responding to organizations’ needs?

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare organizations around the world. Accurate and timely diagnostics save lives, and imaging technology — from CT scans  to MRIs and ultrasound — is critical to clinicians’ ability to respond with speed and make highly informed decisions.

At Canon, we’ve successfully maintained the service times our company has become known for, even during the pandemic. With 40 parts depots located across the country, there was no change in our lead time for spare parts delivery during COVID-19. In fact, we proactively increased our in-country inventory to circumvent the impact of any uncertainties related to air travel or customs delays.

When we speak with healthcare organizations serviced by other medical imaging companies, we hear stories of long delays for service and, especially, parts. These delays put quality of care at risk by limiting clinicians’ ability to understand and appropriately respond to patients’ health conditions. We’re proud that the foundation of continuity and agility for service delivery that Canon established prior to the pandemic empowers us to fulfill healthcare organizations’ needs.

The pandemic also tightened financial pressures for hospitals and health systems as elective procedures were postponed and organizations invested in protective measures to stop the spread of disease. As a result, the financial arrangements that healthcare organizations entered into for imaging equipment prior to the pandemic may no longer be a good fit.

Canon owns its own financing arm, Canon Medical Finance, and that makes us unique in the medical imaging technology space. Most medical imaging vendors work with third-party banks to help healthcare organizations obtain financing for medical imaging products. At Canon, we work directly with healthcare organizations to customize financial instruments into a plan that meets their unique needs. During the pandemic, we proactively reached out to customers to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their business and their revenue stream. We then helped restructure their debt and enabled them to defer payments to help alleviate cash-flow challenges.

What are some key considerations for healthcare leaders when choosing an imaging solutions vendor?

From our perspective, there are three key considerations for healthcare leaders in selecting the right imaging solutions partner.

Service. Canon is recognized nationally for its dedication in going above and beyond to support its customers. We’ve won “Best Service” awards for service for computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and X-ray imaging in the 2020 IMV ServiceTrak™ Imaging Awards. These awards are presented to imaging system vendors that receive the highest percentage of highly satisfied customer responses.

During the pandemic, when minutes count, Canon’s dedication to getting imaging services back in service quickly protects healthcare organizations’ mission of providing high-quality care for those they serve. At Canon, our local service engineers and U.S.-based parts dispatch are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to healthcare organizations’ concerns and get their system up and running quickly. We offer same-day parts delivery from 40 parts depots strategically located across the country, eliminating the lag times in parts delivery that frequently frustrate organizations — and we were able to maintain same-day delivery even during the pandemic. No other imaging company in the nation is capable of responding as quickly as we do to virtually any healthcare organization in the nation.

Just as important is the ability of a service provider to anticipate customers’ needs before a system goes down. At Canon, we do this through our e-Watch™ system. This system continuously monitors customers’ imaging system room environment, checking power, temperature, and humidity levels and automatically alerting the organization to changes that are likely to cause issues. Continuous monitoring of the system’s room environment helps optimize working conditions, ensuring high performance and cost efficiency.

We also take a highly proactive approach to combatting cybersecurity attacks. Canon addresses system vulnerabilities on all fronts with firewall and network protection, antivirus software, live monitoring, predictive technologies and a well-trained team that is ready to help customers withstand an attack. We safely secure patient information using a multilayered, proactive approach that sustains high levels of security, protects against unauthorized access, meets customer privacy expectations and guards against downtime caused by cyberattacks. These investments ensure the security of protected health information, maintaining patient trust. They also reduce cybersecurity costs.

Financing. Just as the right vendor will anticipate customer service needs, leading imaging services providers also anticipate customer financial needs. Through our financing arm, Canon Medical Financing, we help healthcare institutions implement Canon imaging equipment in a way that meets their goals for growth, long-term financial stability and above all, the care that patients need. We develop cost-effective plans that empower healthcare organizations to maintain their position as a healthcare technology leader in their community.

At Canon, we believe flexibility and customization in financing is key. Our dedicated healthcare finance experts partner with healthcare organizations from consultation through implementation, avoiding a one-size-fits-all mentality so that customers get the right financial plan, right now. We provide healthcare organizations with a range of financing solutions, including extensive financing product offerings, competitive interest rates, upgrade programs and prompt credit decisions.

One of the most exciting aspects of customizing a financing plan is that it often makes possible capital acquisitions that were initially thought to be impossible. Because we are not limited in the financial instruments we offer customers, many more potential solutions are in play to help healthcare organizations achieve their goals. These include service support leases, full ownership leases, operating leases, upgrade paths, tax-exempt leases and lines of credit. 

Education. Purchasing new equipment for an organization is exciting, and it brings many positive changes. In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, keeping staff trained on the latest imaging innovations can be challenging. The right vendor will provide comprehensive education in a variety of formats that meet imaging techs where they are. Canon‘s groundbreaking approach to customer education guarantees that teams get the training they need when they need it.

Canon created Performance Pro, a multifaceted training program that presents personalized education for healthcare organizations. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to customer education, Performance Pro is designed to work collaboratively with healthcare organizations to define and meet their educational needs. We provide continuous learning programs at the Canon Institute of Advanced Imaging, located in Irvine, California

Research shows that people learn by doing. At Canon Medical Institute of Advanced Imaging, we have invested in the industry’s first and only interactive training classroom in the United States. Students work with real systems and gain real-time experience. With this unique hands-on instruction, students become true experts who return to their facility excited and confident to begin working with the new imaging equipment.

Customers also benefit from accredited webinars available on demand. Canon Medical On Demand provides a premier micro-learning experience to expand, reinforce or supplement customers training needs. Our courses are designed for physicians, imaging technologists, sonographers, biomedical engineers and healthcare leaders.

With its time-tested and satisfaction-guaranteed programs, Canon Medical Systems empowers technologists to become masters of their craft. We’re so confident in our program that if customers are not completely satisfied with the results, we will retrain a customer’s staff at no additional charge until satisfaction is fully achieved.

Where can readers go for more information?

For more information on Canon Medical’s Solutions, visit our Medical Imaging Gallery at  www.canonrsna20.com. 

About Canon Medical Systems USA

Canon Medical delivers innovative diagnostic medical imaging solutions, including CT, MI, VL, MR, X-Ray, Ultrasound and Healthcare Informatics across the globe. Additionally, Canon Medical is the industry leader in creating partnerships through service, education, and financial solutions that strive to improve the quality of life for all people.