How can you update expensive medical equipment? Is it better to lease or buy MRI hardware?
The fields of medicine and health are some of the most expensive around, but they play a major role in modern day society. In fact, many spend so much time and money working their way through medical school, residency, and more to finally become a doctor or surgeon or other form of medical professionals.
Many spend decades climbing their way up the ladder, only to hit the final point of running a hospital or starting their own practice. However, running a business is a whole new field that involves so much budgeting and managing of employees, and it can get quite overwhelming.
Overall, it’s nice to have a way to make your life easier when running your business, especially as far as your equipment goes. Medical equipment is some of the most expensive hardware out there, from x-ray machines to MRI machines and more, and getting the funding for that can be quite the headache.
However, there are alternatives in the form of leasing and loaning, so you don’t have to worry about paying for the equipment right up front. So, which is the better option: should you lease or buy MRI hardware and other medical equipment?
Purchasing your Medical Equipment
There is quite a bit of equipment you can acquire as far as purchasing that isn’t such a bad idea, but purchasing just isn’t viable for more expensive hardware. If you went and bought a set of tools, they’ll last you a while depending on how well you take care of them, but eventually they’ll deteriorate.
Depending on how good you want your equipment, you’ll either repair it and get some more time out of it or just decide that it’s more cost effective to replace it. In the medical field, quality is vital, and repairs can be pricey, but replacing inexpensive hardware like stethoscopes and such is nothing.
However, the game changes with something more expensive like an MRI machine. You absolutely need your expensive equipment to function well, and repairing it can be an expensive, short term solution to a long term problem.
That means you’ll most likely end up replacing your equipment, and considering the tight budget you will have, it’s a pain to purchase equipment and then purchase it again within a few short years.
Is Getting a Loan a Good Alternative?
Loans are simple but can be quite risky depending on the various factors: basically, you are loaned a certain amount of money by the bank, and depending on the bank and quality of your credit, you are to pay the money back and an additional amount of interest.
That interest is normally a percent of what you loaned and will accumulate more money for you to pay back over time.
Depending on what you purchase, and depending on your interest rate, a loan can be a good option. You get the loan, get what you need, and pay it off later, no sweat. However, a loan is something that you want to know you can pay off, and if you get a loan on really expensive hardware, you simply don’t know if you can make that much money to pay off the loan.
Plus, if it takes you long enough to pay off the loan, your equipment will need to be replaced, and that’s just more debt you’re accumulating.
Should I Lease or Buy MRI Hardware? What is Leasing?
With leasing, you get an equipment loan, but you don’t have to deal with interest rates or high, up-front costs, making life easier for you.
Basically, a lease is a contract involving the hardware you need being loaned to you in exchange for you paying a low, flat monthly rate.
Additionally, leasing makes life easier for you as far as repair costs and such, because any broken hardware is taken care of by the leasing business without you paying through the nose.
There are many advantages when it comes to lease or buy MRI hardware and other medical hardware, but with more expensive equipment, leasing is the better option for a company. To learn more about with you should lease or buy MRI hardware, click here.