This month ICE Magazine asked imaging leaders to share their insights regarding imaging parts. What are the challenges they face? What process is used to find and acquire imaging parts? ICE Magazine asked these questions and more to share their knowledge with the ICE community. Participants in the Director’s Circle on imaging parts are:Intelas Regional Director of Operations Eric Massey;
Shannon Health Assistant Director of Outpatient Radiology Melissa Ramos;
Sodexo Healthcare Imaging Director 1-HTM Josh Nice; and
UC Health, Cincinnati Ohio System Radiology Director Jacqui Rose.
Q: What are the most significant challenges your facility faces when sourcing imaging parts for repair and maintenance of diagnostic imaging devices?
Massey: I oversee imaging service in multiple hospitals throughout the U.S., and the most significant challenge we face when sourcing imaging parts is time to availability. In major metropolitan areas, this is easier to manage. Vendors often have multiple customer sites clustered together, which makes it more practical to establish forward stocking locations. Costs can be shared across facilities, logistics are simpler and proximity to major airports allows for faster replenishment when parts are used. The challenge increases significantly in remote or rural regions. These sites are often far from major airports and distribution hubs, which can add substantial delays to part delivery. In those environments, same-day or next-day recovery becomes much harder without intentional planning. To mitigate this, we have to be strategic about placing forward stocking locations in these regions and focus on keeping high-failure and mission-critical parts readily available. That planning is essential to restoring imaging systems within the same day or within a 24-hour window, which directly impacts patient care, throughput and clinical confidence.
Ramos:  Location, location and very few engineers in the area. We are located in west/central Texas and most of our service team comes from the bigger cities – Dallas, San Antonio, Lubbock, Oklahoma. Delays happen while we wait for service to come triage equipment and wait longer for parts.
Nice: The availability of parts for aged systems. In many cases they are refurbished as new ones are not being produced. Some come dead on arrival (DOA) and some cannot be sourced at all.
Rose: Our most significant issues with sourcing parts lies in the issues with age of our equipment. When our units are end of service life, the parts are very difficult to obtain and, of course, cannot be guaranteed by the vendor. We always try to get OEM parts, however, we often run into issues with those parts being on back order or simply unavailable. Even if they are available on older units, it can take days to get them on site.
Q: Can you describe the process your organization uses to obtain imaging parts, including decision factors for choosing OEM versus third-party suppliers?
Massey: We work with a defined set of approved vendors for each imaging modality, and all parts orders are routed through our technical resources group. That team is responsible for sourcing components through our preferred suppliers and coordinating availability and logistics. The final decision on whether to use an OEM or a third-party supplier is made collaboratively by our onsite engineers and our national support team. That decision is driven by a combination of technical risk, expected part life, system criticality and total cost of ownership. Longevity is a major factor. For example, certain cath lab X-ray tubes can last eight to ten years. In those cases, it often makes more sense to invest in a new OEM tube, even at a higher upfront cost, because the long service life and reliability can outweigh the savings of a lower-cost third-party option that may only last two or three years. Our goal is to balance cost, reliability and clinical uptime so the equipment performs consistently over its full life cycle.
Ramos: It depends on the age of the system. New equipment is generally under the OEM especially for PET, MRI, C-arms and mammography.  For X-ray and ultrasound generally we use third party. We are open to third party – we would look at terms of contracts, pricing and engineer availability.
Nice: We have a procurement team who has access to multivendor support. They are able to search for part availability from all vendors, OEM and third-party, and then provide my team pricing for outright purchase or exchange as well as warranty details so that we can choose what fits our needs.
Rose: We always start with OEM parts and go through our clinical engineering for those units which are under contract. For those units not covered by a contract, we receive help from our clinical engineering teammates to assist with finding parts from our vendors.
Q: How do you evaluate and ensure the quality and reliability of parts? What criteria matter most to your team?
Massey: Quality and reliability start with the vendor’s harvesting and testing practices. We closely evaluate whether a supplier has disciplined processes in place for how parts are removed, inspected, tested and packaged before shipment. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is one of the most critical criteria we look at. ESD is a leading cause of DOA parts in imaging systems, so we expect proper ESD controls to be used from the moment a part is harvested through testing, storage and shipping. That same discipline must continue on our side during handling and installation. Ultimately, the part must be protected from static electricity throughout its entire life cycle, from removal to installation. Vendors and technicians who follow consistent ESD best practices significantly reduce failures, rework and unnecessary downtime, which is why this is such a high priority for our team.
Ramos: I would have to say we trust the vendors to get us quality parts. I would assess the reliability on the repairs and uptime.
Nice: In cases where the OEM parts are viable options, we lean that route. We also have a few preferred third-party vendors who we have used and will continue to use that have been vetted and have provided quality parts in the past. In the event that we go with a new vendor, we select a greater warranty package to ensure that if a part does arrive DOA, we can get another quickly.
Rose: The quality and reliability of parts is evaluated over time along with the quality of service and reliability of vendor services. Any deviation of service or parts reliability is noted and tracked over time to identify trends which may identify a need for a change in contracting or need for a new contract.
Q: Tell us about a situation where parts availability or quality directly impacted equipment uptime or patient care and how your team handled it.
Massey: We were asked to help a customer with a radiology room that had been down for nearly 50 days while under an OEM contract. The system was out of service due to a tabletop component that was being sourced from overseas, and the extended lead time was significantly impacting equipment availability. The customer reached out to see if there were any alternatives to get the room operational sooner. Based on our experience, we knew that one of our approved third-party partners had a nearby warehouse that supported this specific platform and often stocked components for older systems. After a quick call, we confirmed the part was available locally. The vendor was able to provide and install the component, allowing the room to be returned to service within a couple hours of them placing the call to us. This situation highlighted the value of having multiple sourcing options. While OEMs play a critical role, especially for newer technology, independent service organizations like Intelas can often leverage broader supplier networks for legacy systems. That flexibility can significantly reduce downtime and help restore access to imaging services when patient care and throughput are at stake.
Ramos: Particularly in mammography, we have had countless hours of downtime with 5 systems for detectors, and various other issues. We perform over 23,000 exams per year and rely heavily on these 5 machines. When we are down, even with one room, we have significant delays to our patients. Oftentimes rescheduling and pushing their annual or diagnostic appointments out weeks.
Nice: There was a time last year where there was a major run on detectors, flashpads to be specific. We had gone through a number of them, failures and use error, but even the OEM was out of stock. Both new and refurbished detectors were being requested with very long lead times. My team and I kept in contact with the OEM and their parts team daily. Our procurement team kept reaching out to the third-party vendors daily as well. As soon as we were able to locate the desired flashpad, we purchased and replaced. Keeping the client, UH, informed the entire time and providing them timelines along the way. Clear communication is key in times of backorders.
Rose: We are currently experiencing a backorder of parts that is delaying repair of a unit that directly impacts the ability to provide patient care. This has caused us to place this unit on the list for emergency replacement. The unit is an older unit, and parts are difficult to source.
Q: What tips, protocols or best practices do you recommend to improve parts management?
Massey: Strong parts management starts with understanding your supply chain. It is important to know where your vendors’ parts are coming from and to evaluate how those parts are harvested, tested and handled before shipment. Those processes directly affect reliability and reduce the risk of repeat failures. Logistics matter just as much as quality. Vendors that offer courier services and maintain forward stocking locations can significantly shorten delivery times, especially for critical components. Establishing preferred vendors by OEM and imaging modality helps standardize expectations, pricing and performance. Finally, teams should have a clear understanding of expected part life. Knowing how long specific components typically last allows for better decisions on whether to purchase new or refurbished parts, balancing upfront cost with long-term reliability and uptime.
Ramos: I like the model United Imaging has and they have a parts warehouse in Houston. Sadly, we don’t have any of their equipment yet!
Nice: Always cast a wide net. There are a number of good third-party sources who provide great parts and service. Do not be afraid to utilize them. Also, try then to incorporate part pools within your own organization and replacement pools with vendors. Being able to have extra parts on-hand for hot swaps ensures quicker turnaround and reduces downtime. Building in replacement pools with vendors directly allows for priority selection as well which helps reduce backorder time when you are at the top of the list.
Rose: Creating relationships with parts vendors and OEMs to ensure parts are available as needed. We provide space on site to store key parts to ensure availability and reduce transport time. Working closely with all resources to source parts increases the likelihood of improving the turnaround time for getting equipment up and running.
Q: How do you anticipate parts sourcing and maintenance strategies evolving over the next 3-5 years?
Massey: Over the next three to five years, I expect artificial intelligence to play a much larger role in how imaging parts are sourced and managed. AI will be used to analyze historical data on parts performance, failure rates and life cycle trends, helping teams make more informed decisions on whether an OEM or third-party option is the best fit for a given repair. AI will also support smarter inventory strategies by identifying high-failure and high-risk components that should be forward stocked based on utilization, geography and system criticality. That level of insight will allow organizations to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to uptime. In addition, AI will help streamline the parts ordering process by automating sourcing recommendations, flagging potential delays, and improving coordination between service teams and suppliers. Overall, these tools will enable faster decisions, reduced downtime and more consistent maintenance outcomes across imaging fleets.
Ramos: Great question as it sounds like changes are coming. More to come! I will look to ICE to keep us informed.
Nice: I believe that we will see a shift in the use of multivendor and third-party options, especially for aged equipment that is no longer covered by the OEMs. In-house teams will work to obtain more training and try to handle these devices on their own.
Rose: We will continue to create opportunities and creative solutions for vendors to utilize space to store key parts to ensure part availability and decrease downtime. This may extend to storing parts for other customers as well. As equipment ages, we must partner with our vendors to develop creative solutions that bring value to our patients through equipment uptime.
