Choosing the device is reversible.

The contract underneath may not be.

Which device to buy, which data management layer runs on it, and the contract terms tied to it are three separate decisions with very different costs to reverse. This paper helps see them separately before you sign anything.

Written for point of care directors, health system lab and quality leaders, and administrators at large physician practices evaluating point of care connectivity. About an 11-minute read.

Questions about your POC devices?

Contact TELCOR.

One purchase, three decisions, and why each reverses so differently.

The four pressures pulling point of care device inventories apart.

An honest case for staying with one vendor, and where it holds.

Four red flags in any bundled data management pitch.

Seven questions to answer before your next vendor call.

$32.9B

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Global point of care diagnostics market in 2025, projected to nearly double by 2034.

Fortune Business Insights, 2026–2034

82%

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Of U.S. practicing physicians employed by a hospital or corporate entity as of early 2026. Every acquisition brings its own device brands.

Physicians Advocacy Institute and Avalere Health, 2026

20+ Years

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Since CLIA personnel and documentation requirements saw an overhaul as significant as the one CMS implemented in December 2025.

TRC Healthcare; CMS final rule, effective December 30, 2025

2001

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The year an industry-wide point of care connectivity standard was introduced. Adoption is still uneven.

CAP Today; Endava

Three Decisions, in Plain Language

A point of care purchase feels like one decision. It's three, and they don't cost the same to undo.

Vendor dependency rarely comes from the device a hospital owns. It comes from the data management layer and the contract that ride along with it. TELCOR was built to keep those decisions separate.

DECISION	WHAT IT DETERMINES	COST TO REVERSE
Which device to buy	Clinical fit at the bedside, ease of use for the operator, which tests are available where care happens.	Moderate to high. A device is a purchasing decision a hospital can revisit at the next refresh cycle.
Which data management layer runs on top of it	Result capture, operator training and certification records, QC, and how (and whether) results reach the LIS and EMR without manual entry.	Moderate to high, depending on how the contract for it was structured.
What the data management contract's term is tied to	Whether a hospital can look at a calendar and know when each device's data management commitment is next up for renewal.	Extremely high if the term is tied to the device and staggered across years. Low if every device is co-terminous on one recurring date.

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Best Device, Best Data Management

The full field perspective, informed by Becky Clarke, Co-Founder of TELCOR. About an 11-minute read, with seven questions worth answering internally before your next point of care purchasing conversation.

The Real Problem

The same nurse runs a glucose check, a coagulation panel, and a urine test in one shift. When each device brand brings its own data management system, her training record, certification date, and competency documentation end up in two or three places, entered by different people who can't see each other's work.

"You've got duplication of effort and the opportunity for huge errors. And you have the opportunity then, at inspection time, where you don't have all the data for point of care testing in one place."

BECKY CLARKE, CO-FOUNDER, TELCOR

TELCOR: A Great Place to Work™

TELCOR customers see the value of choosing a vendor who has been recognized as a Great Place to Work. This prestigious certification is based on direct feedback from TELCOR employees, reflecting their positive workplace experiences. With decades of POC and RCM leadership, customers trust TELCOR for our transparency, responsiveness, and ability to turn complex processes into reliable measurable financial performance. It's not just software, it's a team committed to elevating every facility it serves.

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