Tenacore has made quality and patient safety the primary focus in all that we do. “In the many years that we have been in business there have been changes in the industry that have caused ripple effects,” Tenacore LLC President Riley Van Hofwegen explains. “The drive toward lowering cost has been a significant contributor in the deterioration of many third parties’ quality. It is a precarious game that all of us in the HTM community must cautiously play. Can price be driven down year over year and quality and patient safety remain high? There is definitely not a simple answer to this question and oftentimes the solution could easily go in either direction but, in general, this is the main question we all face in how we service and purchase medical equipment.”
“Tenacore’s success in recent years can be directly related to our commitment to continuous improvement in all that we do. From customer service, to sourcing of parts and products, to our technical expertise and emphasis on quality and excellence,” Van Hofwegen adds.
TechNation magazine found out more about Tenacore in a question-and-answer session with Van Hofwegen.
Q: What are some advantages that your company has over the competition?
A: Simply put, Tenacore’s people are what give us our advantage over our competitors! We are a confluence of industry veterans as well as outside professionals who all possess a similar mindset and ambition to being the best. The senior leadership team at Tenacore is built of people who are passionate about patient safety and understand that everything we do relates back to this simple premise. It is never to be sacrificed. This is then driven into all of our teams and no questions are left to be answered. With over 20 years of industry momentum, Tenacore has the staying power that many companies cannot comprehend. We have proven that we are not a “fly by night” operation and that we will stand proud behind all that we do. When we offer extended warranties, our customer can rest assured that we will be here to honor them.
Q: What are some challenges that your company faced last year?
A: The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a major curveball into how the market flows. For instance, when the virus first hit there was a quick frenzy of purchases occurring. Short-term acute care facilities were gearing up for war and preparing for the influx of patients that were already overwhelming them and parking lot treatment tents became the standard. Demand was huge and supply was limited making it very difficult for all. In the recent timeframe there has been a reset of this buying behavior as many facilities are overstocked with product and have no more government subsidies to assist with the cost. This really affected the servicing side of our business where HTM professionals have an overabundance of products they can exchange out to their clinical teams to keep them up and running. We were also hit with a few rounds of COVID infection amongst our staff which caused great difficulty in operating the business and further exacerbated our supply/demand challenges.
Q: Can you explain your company’s core competencies and unique selling points?
A: Tenacore is an expert at depot and onsite service and sale of medical equipment. Our focus is on moveable medical equipment that can easily be shipped to our facility for service and then quickly returned to the customer. We operate in seven primary market segments: patient monitoring, air/oxygen mixers, suction, fluid delivery, portable ventilation, defibrillation, and electrosurgical units (ESU). Our staff is highly trained with many years of experience working with health care professionals and understanding the needs of the environment. Our team members are solutions-minded and know what it takes to service the health care industry. If commitments are made, then they are kept. We will not make promises just to win a deal knowing full well that delivering will be impossible. We really think of ourselves as extensions of the health care facility. When a product needs to be sent out for service, we understand that there are clinicians in need of getting the device returned quickly and in working order so that they can do what they do best and treat their patients.
Q: What product or service that your company offers are you most excited about right now?
A: Tenacore is really excited about our onsite service programs for air-oxygen mixers (oxygen blenders) and infusion pumps. There is a two-year overhaul procedure recommended by original equipment manufacturers, including Tenacore’s air-oxygen mixer. We are also very excited about our Tenacore OEM product lines of suction regulators, air-oxygen mixers, fetal transducers and compatible patient cables.
Q: What is on the horizon for your company?
A: We will remain true to our core business model with an emphasis on continuous improvement and being known as the best name in the game. We will be diligent in listening to our customers’ feedback about products or services that they find valuable. Rather than chasing down the next new product category, we aim to perfect what we currently do. There seem to be many companies chasing down the “next great thing” to support and sell and they fail to perfect their current business. They remain inconsistent and mediocre. Tenacore is a company that has been steady through the years in the third-party service and sales industry. We listened to customers talk about the need for a quality supplier of suction regulators and air-oxygen mixers which triggered us to start the journey of becoming a manufacturer and offering these products directly which we still do today.
Q: Can you share some company success stories with our readers?
A: Tenacore has a program for onsite service within health care facilities called T.Care. We will physically come onsite and service, perform preventative maintenance (PM), or calibrate medical equipment for our customer. We recently had a very large hospital customer reach out to us about our T.Care service offerings. They were up against a tight schedule, needing to overhaul more than 500 air-oxygen mixers before a Joint Commissions audit of their facility in the coming weeks. Our sales team was able to gather all the necessary requirements and quote the project in a matter of hours. We were onsite the following week to start the project with a team of highly skilled, T.Care professionals, who finished the job in a matter of days and put the hospital back on track with their PM cycles. The audit went smoothly, and the customer is now in a great position with their equipment maintenance cycles. They are now signed up for our T.Care program to keep them in long-term compliance.
Q: Is there anything else you want readers to know about your company?
A: Tenacore has been a name in the biomedical industry for many years! This leadership team is solely concentrated on creating value and supplementing health care providers with a partner they can consistently count on! My resolute focus is to take on an upgraded approach to innovation, customer service and relationships, and solutions-based approaches. We have a leadership team comprised of individuals with a long-standing history within the HTM environment who understand the needs of clinical staff within health care facilities and organizations. Tenacore owes everything to our customers, they are the heroes supporting the health care community and servicing the products that allow clinicians to treat patients and save lives. There is nothing more motivating and gratifying than to be engaged in support of such a great cause.
For more information, visit tenacore.com.
