CUSTOMER BACKGROUND
The company is a leading provider of diagnostic information, representing an estimated
20% of the $37 billion annual market for diagnostic testing and employing
approximately 41,000 people.
It tests about 150 million specimens each year, including routine tests such as cholesterol checks, Pap smears, HIV screenings and drug tests, as well as esoteric and anatomic pathology testing. It directly serves doctors, hospitals, corporations, government agencies, nursing homes, corrections facilities and other clinical labs.
The company offers physicians the broadest test menu, with more than 3,000 tests, operates more than 2,100 patient service centers where samples are collected and regularly pioneers new innovations in diagnostic testing that help improve patient care.
It provides physicians in hospitals and private offices with analytical reports that are transmitted electronically to printers in over 25,000 medical professional offices across the country.
THE CHALLENGE
Like most businesses in the healthcare industry, this leading provider of diagnostic information operates in an environment of ever- increasing regulation. The company required a cost-effective solution that prevented physician offices from printing anything other than reports provided by the company, as required by federal regulations to prevent printers from being viewed as an inducement.
Additional requirements included a small footprint to accommodate limited space in doctors’ offices, durable equipment to withstand frequent shipping and dependable service and support for uninterrupted operation.
THE SOLUTION
OKI Printing Solutions initially secured the company as a client based on a 17% reduction in total cost of ownership over the competitive solution. A digital monochrome printer offered high-capacity consumables, low maintenance requirements with a duty cycle of 15,000 pages per month and proven durability.
OKI Printing Solutions also offered unparalleled customization to meet the customer’s very specific printing requirements. To ensure the printers were solely dedicated to printing the company’s clinical testing reports, OKI Printing Solutions programmed into the printers’ firmware an embedded watermark to appear on each printed page. The watermark is an actual text string that prints at the top line of every page and cannot be disabled by the end user. Further, each printer is externally branded with the company’s logo and supports instruction labels.
The relationship with the company was strengthened with OKI Printing Solutions’ ability to continually offer solutions to meet the customer’s evolving testing needs. For example, blood tests originally needed to be printed in black and white, but as esoteric pathology tests were introduced, color printouts were required to better depict test results. OKI Printing Solutions color printers served this need and also contained the watermark. The company is now using several hundred color units for this type of printing requirement.
While the company initially deployed digital monochrome printers, the customer has since transitioned to the next generation of small- workgroup monochrome printer models, currently using over 50,000 units in the field. Each of its 2,200 patient service centers has up to three nursing stations, each utilizing an OKI Printing Solutions monochrome printer, plus up to three label printers.
OKI Printing Solutions most recently earned the company’s label printing business for specimen barcode labeling, based on its reputation of providing reliable performance and unmatched customer support. To date, the customer has installed 6,000 label printers, displacing the previous competitive product.
CONCLUSION
Throughout the 15+-year relationship, OKI Printing Solutions has provided print technology solutions to evolve with the company’s progressive testing and printing needs and today is its full-service printing solutions partner. OKI Printing Solutions worked closely with the company from the start to customize a unique solution with the permanent watermark and co-branded printers—a level of customization no other vendor could provide.
The OKI Printing Solutions advantage was also clearly demonstrated with a 17% lower total cost of ownership versus the competition. These benefits, combined with unsurpassed customer support and high-level services, have made OKI Printing Solutions the partner of choice again and again for this leading provider of diagnostic information.
As a testament to the long-standing partnership, the company is currently reviewing several manufacturers for managed services and is considering OKI Printing Solutions as the partner of choice for its comprehensive Managed Print Services offering to optimize fleet management and reduce costs.
BUSINESS SEGMENT
Healthcare—Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories