September 24, 2008 - GE Healthcare’s satisfaction scores reflect significant improvements in customer perceptions of service quality in both MD Buyline’s second quarter 2008 customer satisfaction survey and IMV ServiceTrak’s 2008 report.
MD Buyline and ServiceTrak present independent analysis of service trends in industry and manufacturer ratings within each modality.
“We think it’s significant that two completely separate surveys show that GE Healthcare Cardiac Ultrasound Service has made positive changes,” said Ann Marie Lubert, General Manager, GE Healthcare Ultrasound Services. “These achievements are consistent with the trend of our own customer satisfaction measurements. Latest scores reveal that 93 percent of our customers are not only satisfied, but also willing to recommend GE Healthcare Cardiac Ultrasound Service to a peer. Clearly, this is an indication that the programs and initiatives we’ve implemented over the last year to enhance our service offerings are working.”
MD Buyline’s customer satisfaction survey reports that GE Healthcare scores are up in three key areas, including the composite score. Compared to the 1st quarter 2008 ratings, GE Healthcare realized gains in system performance, system reliability and applications training. In service response time and service repair quality categories, GE Healthcare held steady compared to last quarter. When matched with its three main competitors, GE Healthcare was the only manufacturer that posted an overall increase in the overall composite score versus last quarter.
In the 2008 ServiceTrak Imaging - Ultrasound Cardiology report, GE Healthcare improved in 32 of 34 categories and posted the largest gain in service follow-up. In addition, GE Healthcare leads the industry in this year’s report in its ratings for technology upgradeability, the ability to provide expected image quality and in the capacity to solve issues by telephone.
In terms of OEM service engineer performance, which measures timeliness of the initial phone call, troubleshooting effectiveness, punctuality, attitude and the degree to which commitments are met - GE Healthcare scored higher in all criteria when compared to 2007. Notably, 92 percent of GE Healthcare respondents rated the attitude of GE Healthcare service engineers as “very good” or “excellent,” Lubert said.
The percentage of GE Healthcare Ultrasound Cardiology systems connected through InSite ExC increased in 2008. The IMV ServiceTrak report also showed that the percentage of time GE Healthcare is able to diagnose problems remotely increased 22 percent and that the ability to remotely resolve problems increased by 18 percent. Both of these 2008 ratings are above industry average.
Lubert believes GE Healthcare’s rankings reflect the 2008 Insite ExC compatibility expansion to users of Vivid 7, the company’s flagship cardiovascular ultrasound system. InSite ExC allows GE Healthcare to help Vivid 7 customers at their point of care with minimal interruption to exam schedules.
GE said customers view the ability to perform online clinical support as particularly valuable. A likely scenario might be a stress echo procedure, in which the sonographer needs guidance in configuring the stress test template. In such a case, an On-Line Clinical Application Specialist can walk the sonographer through the appropriate steps.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com