Reagent Rental Contracts Helping Clinical Laboratories Stay Afloat

In these financially trying times, medical laboratories have to find ways of staying competitive while providing tests at reduced costs. Advanced technology can provide quality diagnostics and testing at reduced costs. However, procuring high-end laboratory equipment involves huge capital investment. Keeping up with technological advancements in the face of budgetary concerns is one of the most important challenges that medical and scientific laboratories face. Reagent rental contracts can provide the solution.

In a reagent rental contract, the lab is provided with analyzer on the grounds that the lab would pay a cost per test (CPT) performed on the analyzer, depending on the lab's projected test volume. This arrangement offers many benefits for budget-conscious clinical labs with high volume testing:

• Helps acquire the latest technology
• Helps avoid huge capital investment
• Reduced costs per test with advanced diagnostic equipment
• When the contract ends, the equipment can be replaced with a new model
• Technology can be updated more frequently as there is no huge cost involved
• The costs of reagents, consumables and service are included in the agreement

Many leading lab equipment suppliers offer reagent rental arrangements to help laboratories purchase advanced immunoassay and chemistry analyzers. The terms of the rental agreement would vary according to the instrument type and rental period which can be as brief as a month. As service costs are also covered in the rental, maintaining the lab equipment is easier. At the end of the contract, the equipment has to be returned in good reasonably condition. Allowances are made for wear and tear.