Discounted prices are nice, but they're not the only thing to ask vendors about when closing a deal. Many companies offer additional services beyond the sale, for free or at a low cost, and all you have to do is ask.

1. Free education
In addition to the Customer Care Center at www.steris.com, which features a live chat service staffed throughout the workday to answer questions about products, ordering and billing, Steris offers free education programs — 1-hour presentations by trained specialists — and self-study modules, available online and in print, covering a range of subjects from instrument handling to sterilization techniques to hand hygiene. Each course is good for 1 contact hour of continuing education credit. "The educational programs are a big hit," says Tim Chapman, senior vice president and healthcare division group president at Steris, especially for facilities that don't have the time to develop their own continuing education curriculums. "You bring your team, we'll bring the faculty."

Keeping current on the latest advances in the ophthalmic field is one of the bonuses that customers of Vantage Outsourcing (www.vantageoutsourcing.com) enjoy. The full-service cataract surgery equipment and services supplier provides technical updates and demonstrates new technology to keep your surgeons up to speed. "If there's a new upgrade or a new disposable, we'll bring it to their attention" via e-mail, a letter or in a conversation with a company tech or account manager, says CEO Ann Deters. "We oftentimes ask, ???Would you be interested in trying it out in surgery next time?' We're in surgery 5 days a week with ophthalmologists, so we see a wide range of techniques and disposables used. If we see a doctor having good results with something, we want to share this with others. We're our customers' eyes and ears in the field."

When it comes to keeping your OR equipment running, a little troubleshooting knowledge goes a long way. Skytron (www.skytron.us) offers a monthly technical service training program for biomed staffers at its Grand Rapids, Mich., headquarters that gives them an in-depth, hands-on course in the operation and maintenance of its surgical lights, surgical tables and booms. The objective, says Randy Tomaszewski, the company's vice president of marketing, is to provide technicians with the ability to diagnose and service the equipment on the front lines when possible. "Hospitals like it because their equipment stays in good working order," he says, and because more informed technicians often mean faster fixes. The programs are free, but you must pay for staff transportation and lodging.

2. Loaner equipment
Unless your vendor offers to loan you replacement equipment while yours is out of commission, you may be left empty-handed for a case. "A good vendor can save the day for a facility," says Carlos Rosado, president of Lone Star Medical Equipment (www.lonestarmedical.com), a dealer of new and refurbished equipment that provides loaners. "We know that the lack of a device in a surgery suite can cause a case or cases to be canceled."

3. An expiring-drug reminder
Do you remember to restock your medications before they expire? US WorldMeds (www.usworldmeds.com), the maker of generic dantrolene sodium for injection, keeps tabs on its customers' purchases for free. "Our sales team will call the customer about a month before their inventory is due to expire, so they don't have to manage the process of remembering," says Kelly Hammons, sales and product manager. "We hope our customers never have to use this drug. About 97% of the time, they don't. But then they have to remember when it's expiring," usually about 21 or 22 months after its purchase. Depending on availability, the company can provide startup facilities with near-expired vials of the drug for free so they can complete emergency drills required for certification. For a limited time, US WorldMeds is also offering a free online course on malignant hyperthermia, good for 1 contact hour, through Nursing CE Portal (www.nursingceportal.com).

4. Free water testing
As a medical device manufacturer, Aesculap (www.aesculap.com) knows what can put your surgeons' tools at risk. Rusting, pitting or corrosion on instruments warrants an examination of your decontamination and steam sterilization process, and in particular a testing of your water supply. The company offers free water testing for concerned providers. "Customers can request a water testing kit from our quality department and take samples at designated points in the sterilization process," says Michael Chow, senior product manager. Aesculap sends the returned samples to an outside lab for testing, and the customer receives a written report.

You can get your Aesculap instrument sets color-coded or etched before they're shipped. "Color-coded ring-handled instruments or instruments etched with identifying characters can tell you which items belong to which sets and which trays," says Mr. Chow. Previously purchased Aesculap instruments can be sent for similar coding. The cost depends on the number of colors applied, he says, but 1 color (or character etching) costs about $2 to $3 per instrument.

5. Order supplies with ease
Cardinal Health customers can save time and ensure accuracy when ordering supplies from the company. A wireless bar code reader scans the codes directly from supply shelves or from the company's "Supply Excellence" customized surgery center catalog, then syncs the device to their computer. The scanned information is uploaded to the online ordering platform at www.cardinal.com for processing. "Compared to the manual input of item numbers and quantities, the technology has the potential to save a manager up to 80 percent of their ordering time," says Kevin Turner, senior manager of marketing for Cardinal Health's ambulatory surgery centers division.

6. Are your patients satisfied?
Hire CTQ Solutions (www.ctqsolutions.com) for patient, physician or employee surveying and receive, at no extra cost, daily feedback on the results. You choose the criteria to which you want to be notified and an e-mail informs you to check your online alert manager when those criteria appear, says Paul Faraclas, president and CEO. This real-time quality intelligence can highlight potential staffing, scheduling or other underperformance issues, letting managers "put out a fire before it becomes an inferno," says Mr. Faraclas. You don't have to be a full-time patient surveying and benchmarking client to use CTQ's physician and employee surveying.

7. Your own purchasing agent
The members of VHA (www.vha.com), the national alliance that brings together healthcare providers to share in supply chain management services and clinical and operational improvement resources, have access to its advantageous group purchasing contracts. But they also gain the assistance of the account management teams at the company's 16 regional offices. According to Marty Heath, senior marketing manager for VHA, the teams can help facilities to identify cost-savings opportunities based on their reported purchasing patterns, negotiate contract terms with vendors and intervene on a facility's behalf in order to resolve issues in which the expected services are not delivered, at no cost. "Our entire program is built around service after the sale," says Mr. Heath. The company's employee savings program extends negotiated discounts with many service providers — including wireless phone companies, auto rental agencies and tax preparation services — to member facilities' employees and their families.

8. Getting the word out
If your ASC has recently opened its doors or if you've added cataract cases to its schedule, you know that marketing the service is of paramount importance. Cataract outsourcing firm Sightpath Medical (www.sightpathmedical.com) can lend its customers a hand on that front for free. It offers a binder of materials such as ad templates, direct mail pieces and posters for referring physicians' offices that you can use to attract cataract clients. "It's a tool kit to get the word out there," says Heather Pfeiffer, the company's director of marketing. Sightpath also offers an array of PowerPoint presentations created by Minnesota Eye Consultants on ophthalmic techniques and technologies with which center leadership can prepare continuing education presentations for referring and potential referring physicians.

9. Worry-free implant procedures
Through its implantable device procurement service, Access MediQuip (www.access-mediquip.com) assumes responsibility for reimbursement. You can keep tabs on your implant procedures through "Partners in Focus," the company's free Web-based data interface. It tracks referral history, surgical activity, status updates and authorization info regarding the implant for specific case management as well as overall implant case volume, says Executive Vice President Jon Hamrick.

10. OR design
"Over the years, Maquet has developed expertise in efficient OR layout and design," says Michael Haeusler, director of marketing for surgical workplaces at the medical equipment manufacturer (www.maquet.com). "Our industry experts are available to work with you in designing your OR in real time." In addition to offering project management and installation and service support in the early planning stages, the company can also provide customers with a free 3-D planning tool. "The advance design technology helps avoid costly planning and design mistakes," says Mr. Haeusler.

The project design managers available to Steris Corporation customers planning new construction or renovation of surgical suites and sterile processing departments are "men and women who know spaces, and have a database of thousands of examples," says Mr. Chapman. "Maybe they're not exactly what you'll build, but our customers love that option because it helps them shape their solutions, and it costs them nothing." The project design managers work with customers to show them "good, better and best options" for their surgical, GI and central sterile rooms, and can even show them 3-D, computer-assisted design layouts of their plans, he says.

When building or renovating a surgical environment, you'll want to make sure there's a place for everything, and everything is efficiently in its place. Healthcare storage system manufacturer Stanley InnerSpace (www.stanleyinnerspace.com) offers free on-site storage analysis, using such lean principles as 5S (for process organization and management) and value stream mapping (for workflow analysis) to make the most of your supply space. The company's Web site provides a portal for requesting a review.