Market Analysis: Computed Tomography

The days of double-digit growth are far behind the U.S. imaging sector, but that only means the industry will have to make do with a forecast of 5 percent annual growth until about 2016, according to a February 2013 report from IMS Research.

Computed Tomography (CT), the most popular technology of the installed equipment base in the country, is still valued at $3.7 billion globally, a figure that’s expected to climb to $6 billion even by the end of the decade, according to Wintergreen Research. As much as $1.4 billion of those dollars will be spent in the American equipment market.

The IMS report predicts that 2013 will see the “strongest revenue growth in the next five years” thanks to a release of pressure that was driven by the challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Medical Device User Tax, and the “fiscal cliff” negotiations in the U.S. Congress in early 2013, which led to across-the-board financial cuts.

“While conditions are still challenging for most providers, they do now have greater visibility of the mid-term outlook at the start of 2013,” read an announcement from IMS accompanying its report that forecasts reinvestment in the field motivated by “an aging installed base and credit markets improving.”

Compounding those concerns are beliefs that reimbursement for imaging services could shrink by as much as 15 to 20 percent, IMS reported. Stephen Holloway, a senior analyst for clinical care devices quoted in the release accompanying the report, said: “Considering the private imaging center market is still reeling from the impact of the economic downturn and market uncertainty, the market outlook is weak.”

Read more in the April 2013 issue of Medical Dealer Magazine.