Medical Waste Service Agreements

The most common lament I have heard from medical professionals regarding their medical waste is their regret of getting locked into a long-term medical waste service agreement, with termination costs at 6 months of the highest recent service fee, or more, while their monthly invoices have contained to rise, often adding “temporary” surcharges or fees, while service quality has declined, and customer service is rarely any help.

The California Department of Public Health requires all generators of medical waste have a Medical Waste Service Agreement as part of their registration as a small quantity generator or a large quantity generator (200 lbs. + of medical waste generated per month).

With respect to medical waste service, you should feel confident that your prospective medical waste service provider can satisfactorily answer the following questions: 

1. Will my invoice price be the same as your quoted price? If not, why not?

2.  Will my invoice price increase during the term of this agreement?  If so, how much and for what reason(s)?

3.  If I have any questions or any issues about service or billing, or anything else, who do I contact?

4.  If I want or need to exit the medical waste agreement, can I do so?  What conditions and penalties apply?

 Don’t get distracted or suckered into paying-for vague “value added services”, or some "service optimization tool", which normally provides access to things you don’t need, don't care about, don’t have time for, or for which you already have internal protocol(s).  For instance, why would you pay for access to training courses that your staff will not use, or training that your company already provides? 

The best way to optimize service is to just reach out to your medical waste provider, who should understand your service history and any trends in your medical waste generation, as well as any potential compliance ramifications resulting from proposed changes made to your medical waste service and be happy to help. If you’re looking for new medical waste service, just call a company you may be interested in working with. Are they happy to answer your questions without pressuring their own interests? Either way, you have an idea with whom you’re dealing.

Honest answers to the questions above tell you quite a bit about the company, and their priorities.  

1. If quoted price is not the price invoiced to you for service, the quoted price is not real.

2. Prices for almost everything have, admittedly, been going up for several years, but do you need to accept regular price increases in your medical waste service, too?

3.  Service and invoicing are not specifically agreement related, but are often the most relevant subjects after any agreement is signed.

4.  Be careful of highly punitive exit clauses.  If you get locked-in, even if your service is poor, you still can't leave without s large financial penalty.

There are other potential needs and items to discuss, from signage and medical waste storage to single-use containers, which could be a part of a specific customer's total medical waste service need.  But these lesser items are best discussed after you are comfortable with the most important elements of a medical waste service agreement.

Finally, the "fine print".  Many medical waste service agreements are now 6+ pages, and three (3) of them at the end are 6-8 font "Terms of Service" or similar language.  This is generally where you will find fees, surcharges and vague language allowing price increases.  Recently, with prices for regular gas over $6.00 per gallon and over $7.00 per gallon for diesel in California, fuel surcharges have become a very popular addition to medical waste service fees, and invoices. 

Having a good business contract lawyer review any proposed Agreement is always a good idea, particularly if the proposed agreement is confusing in any way. Be confident that you know what you’re signing, so that you’re not unpleasantly surprised later.

Everyone wants the lowest price when we purchase goods or services, but we also want the best product or service for our money, as well as the peace of mind dealing with a company we can trust, and one we could easily leave if we were ever unhappy. Take the extra few minutes to understand what you're committing-to, and freely ask questions, especially related to the four points above. Make sure you feel confident that you’re getting the most value, not just the lowest quoted price for medical waste service.