Everyone has heard of Albert Einstein. One of his theories describes politics like a pendulum swinging back and forth: Sometimes the conservatives are in power and when people get tired of conservatives, the pendulum swings to the liberals and subsequently back to the conservatives. I believe the same is true of business, and right now, of the mobile imaging business in particular.

Demand for mobile trailers has not been strong in the past few years, but Hurricane Sandy created a demand for mobile imaging systems to service hospitals that had imaging systems destroyed during the storm. NYU Langone Medical Center was one such facility. We wrote a story this week about a mobile MRI install there that had to be ready before the holidays. Here at DOTmed, we've also noticed a lot more demand for mobile PET, CT, and MR to meet this need.

Because both demand and manufacturing have been lower in recent years, supply has diminished because of attrition and tough economic times. A few lucky vendors have hit some home runs because they were able to make equipment available when needed. We believe that the demand for mobile imaging will rise both because demand is greater than supply and because some units are old and need replacing. This is good news for trailer and equipment manufacturers and good news for patients who will have access to new equipment. It's even good for emerging markets because existing machines will have to go somewhere.

If you want to read more about mobile imaging, please check out this month's issue of DOTmed Business News and this story about the rise of mobile imaging.