Bone Densitometers: No Bones About It: Things Are Getting Better

by Keith Loria, Reporter | June 21, 2010

"We are seeing the importance in the ability to use the machine not to just look at bones, but to do workups on lean tissue and fat tissue," Wolf says. "There is more and more interest there. We think that's what the future holds. I can foresee a day when densitometers are actually used as much, or more, for soft tissue workups as they are for bone."

Going International
Once the decrease started in the U.S., CMS turned their attention to the international market, and found a great need for bone densitometry equipment.

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"There are a lot of areas in the world where bone density is underserved," Orlando says. "For us, business has been very good because we put a lot of attention on this market. For a number or countries, bone density has been a little slow to come along, but demand has been at an increase in places like Germany, Italy, India, South America, Mexico, Canada, and Australia."

Orlando warns that for international customers considering working with a company, they should always make sure that the dealers have the capabilities to service the equipment and support the customers. Orlando believes that international sales will continue to be strong in the years ahead.

Denholtz has sees increases in sales to overseas customers too, and he believes that the U.S. market is also showing signs of recovery.

"The overseas business has come in and helped a lot of the lagging U.S. business," Denholtz says. "We are already seeing an uptick in business and once [the reimbursements] become general knowledge, people will be saying, 'We should get DXA.' If the reimbursements hold strong past 2011, then we could see an increase in testing and purchasing of new and refurbished machines as millions [of patients] come into the system as newly insured."

That is something that is good for the OEMs, the third-party providers, and more importantly, the people who stand to benefit the most - the patients.