Your OEM Stopped Selling It. Can Your Records Keep It Running?
On October 12, Siemens Healthineers stopped selling four general imaging ultrasound lines: Acuson Sequoia, Redwood, Juniper and Maple. The company says it will keep supporting the systems already in hospitals, including maintenance, software updates and transducers. The coverage doesn't put an end date on that support.
So nothing breaks this week. But a lot of HTM teams just added a fleet to the list every program keeps somewhere: equipment that is still working, still in use, and now on a clock.
Every shop has models on that road, from every manufacturer. This article is about the decision waiting at the end of it, and the one thing every guide tells you to lean on when you make it.
What actually changes at end of sale?
Less than it sounds like, at first. End of sale, end of support, and end of life get used as if they mean the same thing. They don't.
PartsSource's guide to extending imaging equipment splits it into three stages. At end of production, the maker stops building the product but still supplies parts. At end of guaranteed support, it stops stocking parts, training and service contracts as standard. At end of support, everything stops, software updates and remote monitoring included. The same guide says manufacturers typically give 12 to 18 months' notice before that last stage.
End of sale is the start of that road. The useful question at this stage: what will we need to know when we have to decide?
Everyone says "check the service history." Can yours answer?
Read any guide on extending equipment past end of support and you'll find the same advice. Look at how well the device has been maintained. Look at its failure rate. Compare it to what's normal for that model. Keep the units that are holding up, retire the ones that aren't.
Good advice. Now try it on your own records. Pick one unit and ask:
How many times has this unit failed in the last two years, and was it the same fault?
What parts went into it, and did the same part keep coming back?
What did the manufacturer's engineer do on their last three visits?
What did your own techs try before the fix that worked?
For a lot of programs, the honest answers look like this. A failure cause code picked in five seconds at closeout. A resolution note that says "repaired, tested, returned to service." A vendor visit that exists as a PDF attached to the work order, unread by any report. The count of failures is usually there, with little or nothing on why.
That's the gap. The decision to extend or replace a whole fleet ends up resting on the thinnest part of the record. We've written before about why failure cause codes alone can't carry a benchmark, and about what gets lost when the vendor's report stays a PDF. End of support is where both problems send the bill.
Who on your team actually knows this model?
The service history isn't only in the CMMS. A lot of it is in people.
Every shop has someone who knows a given model better than the manual does. They know the fault that looks like a board failure but is a loose connector. They know which error the system throws right before it dies for good. When the manufacturer's support thins out, that person becomes the support.
Here are two questions worth asking about any fleet heading toward end of support.
First: if your manufacturer-trained tech on that model left next year, what would you lose besides a person? On some platforms, access to service software, and the keys needed to calibrate a replacement part, can follow the training seat. Do you know which of your fleets work that way?
Second: when a tech calls the manufacturer's support line and gets the answer that fixes it, where does that answer go? If it's spoken once on a phone call and never written into the device's record, the next tech on the same model pays for it again, sometimes literally.
With 40% of the HTM workforce approaching retirement, this isn't a someday problem. We've called it before: in a lot of shops, the knowledge base is a phone number.
What can you do before support ends?
None of this needs a new budget line. It needs a start date.
Pull the history on every affected model now. Two or three years of work orders per unit. Count repeat faults on the same unit. That number is the first thing your extend-or-replace conversation will ask for.
Read the notes, not just the codes. Could someone who wasn't there tell what happened from the note alone? If not, that unit's history is a count, not a record.
Get the vendor's work into your own record. What they found, what they replaced, what they tested. Attached isn't the same as recorded.
Write down who knows the model and what they know. While they're still here. Even a short list of the top five fixes per model is worth more than nothing.
Capture the detail on every repair from today. The history you'll need in eighteen months is being written, or not written, this week.
Whoever services the fleet next, the manufacturer, your own team or a third party, needs the same history. Having it is what gives you a real choice.
Where does Leera AI fit?
Leera AI is a voice copilot for HTM technicians. The tech talks through the repair while doing it: what the device was doing, what they checked, what didn't work, what did. Leera AI drafts complete notes in your shop's format, the tech reviews and approves, and the notes are written into your CMMS. Leera AI sits on top of your CMMS and syncs with it via API.
Vendor reports work the same way. Forward the manufacturer's service report by email and Leera AI turns it into work order fields: what was done, which parts, how long. A person approves before anything is written. The vendor's visit stops being a PDF and becomes part of the device's history.
Nobody can rebuild two years of missing detail. What you can do is make sure every repair from now on leaves a record that will still answer questions when the support letter arrives.
FAQ
What's the difference between end of sale and end of support? End of sale means the manufacturer stops selling new units of that model. End of support means it stops supplying service, parts, training and software updates. There's usually a long gap between the two, and the manufacturer's notice tells you which stage you're in.
Does end of sale mean we have to replace the equipment? No. End of sale is a commercial decision by the manufacturer, not a finding that the equipment is unsafe. Many programs keep equipment running well past end of sale, and some well past end of support. The decision depends on parts, service access, cybersecurity and the unit's own history.
What service history do I need to decide whether to extend or replace? At minimum: failures per unit over time, repeat faults on the same unit, parts used, downtime, and what both your techs and the manufacturer's engineers did on each visit. The counts show how often a unit failed; the notes are what explain why, and whether the next failure is coming.
Who should keep the service history when the manufacturer does the work? You should. The manufacturer's report belongs in your own record for that device, not only in their system or in an inbox. When support ends, your record is the only one you can count on still having.
Dima Okhrimchuk is the founder of Leera AI, which builds voice-first documentation for HTM teams. Leera AI is built in the field with HTM teams at major US health systems.