iMed Biomedical launched in 2014 after noticing a gap in the medical service industry in the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) area of Texas. While on-site BMETs were able to service their equipment locally, there really wasn’t a higher level support for those engineers.
“Having been a biomedical technician myself in the United States Army, I was a little shocked to see the lack of support in the form of supplemental labor, quality replacement parts, specialized equipment services, project management, depot repairs and CMS/TJC consulting,” explains iMed Biomedical Inc. President and CEO Jake Powell. “Despite the need I saw, we understood that starting a biomedical services company in the highly saturated DFW market wouldn’t come easy, especially if iMed hoped to solve some of the commonly overlooked service issues that nobody else seemed to be addressing.”
“As a startup with virtually no reputation, we recognized that we would need to build a brand for our organization and bring an exceptional customer experience to the table if we were going to survive. I believed that if we could truly prioritize patient safety above all else, that the rest of the chips would fall into place,” Powell adds.
“Four years later, we have expanded into a comprehensive biomedical solutions company with a wide range of capabilities. We are currently providing biomedical services in over 20 states stretching from California to Maine. Our ability to listen to the customer, create a unique service package based on their needs, and deliver with precise, cost-effective solutions have earned us a reputation as a reliable partner for hospitals and clinics nationwide.”
TechNation quizzed Powell to find out more about iMed Biomedical.
Q: What are some advantages that your company has over the competition?
Powell: One of the advantages that we take pride in is our tailored approach to each individual project we take on. We like to meet our customers with a “blank canvas philosophy.” By taking into consideration the customer’s goals and concerns, whether they be the lowest-priced solution, the highest-quality solution, or the happy median therein – we can provide an unrivaled service package that hits the bullseye for our customer.
Q: What are some challenges that your company faced last year?
Powell: The main challenge we’ve faced over the past year would have to be scalability. Last year, iMed not only took on more large-scale service projects than we ever had before; we also took on far more complex projects. In order to execute our responsibilities properly, we had to expand our stable of qualified technicians. Almost immediately, this change presented us with another problem. While we now had the necessary staff in place to tackle the influx of new projects, we were very quickly outgrowing our real estate. We needed something bigger. In May of this year, we moved our base of operations into a new 7,000 square foot facility in Carrollton, Texas.
Q: Can you share the company’s core competencies and unique selling points?
Powell: Our business is divided into two facets: service and parts. On the service side, we specialize in dialysis, O2 blenders, injectors and CT/MRI. Our parts portfolio includes batteries for the Alaris 8015 and AIL sensors for the Alaris 8100, as well as top cases and batteries for the Medfusion 3500 and 4000. In addition, we manufacture an oxygen blender kit that is compatible with any Bird-style O2 blender. Every part iMed manufactures is done to strict OEM specification and comes with a 1-year warranty.
Q: What product or service are you most excited about right now?
Powell: The most exciting thing for me right now would have to be our oxygen blender repair service or the implementation of our new O2 blender kit. At our shop, we use an efficient assembly-line process for blender repairs that affords us quicker turnaround times than any of our competitors. Our development team spent nearly half a year on various prototypes for an oxygen blender kit. The idea was to create a universal Bird-style blender kit that would meet OEM specifications for fit, form and functionality across the board. After a rigorous R&D process, we were finally able to roll out a kit that would be perfectly compatible for any “Bird-style” oxygen blender, whether it be Bird, Viasys, Siemens, Ohmeda, Omega Low Flow, or Select Ohio Medical Blenders. As a result of our hard work, we are now able to tackle oxygen blenders for our customers with the same approach we brought to infusion pumps in 2014 – both as a parts supplier and as a service provider.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your employees?
Powell: iMed Biomedical is proud to be a veteran-owned business. In fact, 75 percent of our current staff served, or are currently serving, in the United States military. The same virtues of respect, discipline and hard work that define this nation’s Armed Forces are also an integral part of the culture at iMed Biomedical. As a business owner, I am frequently honored to receive unsolicited, positive customer feedback after an on-site dispatch praising the professionalism and politeness of our technicians. We only hire military trained or degree-certified technicians. Thus, if one of our BMETs is working on a device of yours, you can rest assured that they have been trained on the machine and have the certification to back it up.
Q: What is most important to you about the way you do business?
Powell: We always put the customer first and pride ourselves on helping them in any capacity. If there is a competitor of ours who offers a specialization we do not, we will refer the customer to them every time. Furthermore, we are not here to replace your biomedical department. Rather, we focus on the task at hand with an emphasis for patient safety and an exceptional customer experience.
For more information call (888) 965-4633 or visit www.iMedBiomedical.com.