I have the opportunity to talk with owners of countless third-party service providers and invariably, one of the questions I ask them is how frequently they work with biomeds. Most of them cite daily interaction with biomeds to assist with troubleshooting existing systems, and on some occasions, for the sale of new equipment or replacement parts. This seems to follow logic: on their Web sites, third-party providers often boast free, 24/7 troubleshooting.

However, in my conversations with biomeds, rarely do they mention interaction with those third-party providers—which is not to say that they do not interact with them. How often do you contact your third-party service provider for technical assistance, if ever? What are some of the aspects of that troubleshooting that they do well? What else would you like to see from them to improve their service?