Right to Repair Survey Participants Needed

Right to Repair is based on a simple premise: If you own something, you should be able to maintain and repair it how you see fit, without restrictions by manufacturers that steer you towards buying a new product or using only their brand-controlled service technicians.

Right to Repair reforms require manufacturers to allow product owners and independent services to access the parts, tools, and information required to repair things at fair and reasonable costs. Right to Repair legislation has been proposed in all 50 states, and it has passed in 10, covering all sorts of things from agricultural equipment to consumer electronics such as phones. Manufacturers such as Apple and Google have even started to support some of this legislation for consumer electronics – showing that manufacturers can come to the table and support these reforms.

However, there is still no legislation that ensures the Right to Repair medical equipment other than powered wheelchairs, despite a lot of attempts at engagement, collaboration and compromise. In our view, a Right to Repair for medical equipment is crucial because it reduces equipment downtime and equipment maintenance costs. Less downtime for equipment also improves patient care.

Our position is that those who provide the care to the patient should be able to choose for themselves what the best course of action is for medical device repair – whether they choose the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), their own in-house technicians, or an independent service organization (ISO) – and that whoever services that equipment should be able to access the necessary repair materials.

During the COVID pandemic, PIRG’s 2020 Hospital Repair Restrictions report showed how manufacturers restrict repair through software locks, refusing to provide service manuals, denying access to spare parts, and limiting access to  training. The report found that this conduct undermined patient safety under the stress of the pandemic, including frustrating the servicing of ventilators.

Five years later, the challenges facing medical device repair have evolved, and we want to make sure lawmakers know the latest issues. We are relaunching efforts to engage key stakeholders in the BMET/HTM industry – including ISOs, hospitals and OEMs.

As a grassroots-funded nonprofit that works to promote the public interest, it’s critical we have the latest information and perspectives. Data has been vital in the development of Right to Repair. For example, through extensive work by the FDA, ECRI Institute, and others, we know that repair of medical equipment by ISO’s, in-house teams, and OEMs all offer safe, effective servicing and are critical to functioning of our health care system.

To shed light on the issue we are updating our 2020 report on the state of medical Right to Repair. You can help by taking our survey and sharing with others, or by connecting with us and sharing your perspective. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdb624nCWSlgJ2CGLLb-n6t-FGCGORCzMf8iBU6u_fGaQQnzQ/viewform?usp=header

For any questions, please email Henry Welch at henry.welch@pirg.org