From the January 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Less OEM reliance
According to Ed Ruth, operations manager of Managed Medical Imaging, a medical imaging equipment sales and service company, in today’s economy more medical facilities—both small and large—are opting to purchase used imaging systems. “Three, four years ago, a hospital wouldn’t have thought a thing of buying the latest and greatest, and now even the major hospitals really are much more interested in used systems,” he says.

Because of the reigning budget-consciousness, when it comes time for service, these same hospitals are more likely than ever to seek out a company that is not the equipment’s original manufacturer. “I actually had some say this to me in the past: ‘Oh, I would never look at using service from other than the OEM,’” says Ruth. “Now, they’ve been told by their bosses, ‘Hey, you cut costs or we cut people,’ and suddenly they’re calling us asking, ‘Hey, can you give us some numbers?’”
“More hospitals are taking control of their service with in-house service,” observes Kuehn, explaining that as a result, facilities don’t need to buy OEM tubes, which can be much more expensive than non-OEM tubes. With in-house service, facilities can choose whatever tube makes the most sense. “The multi-vendor service segment of the market has grown substantially in the last two years just because of health care reform and trying to reduce costs,” he adds.

New equipment
Dunlee, a leading manufacturer of replacement X-ray tubes, has recently launched a replacement X-ray tube for GE Healthcare’s 64-slice LightSpeed CT scanner.

Varian Medical Systems, a major OEM of X-ray tubes, has also come out with new products. “We’ve introduced X-ray tubes that are built to withstand the increased power and heat requirements of digital imaging,” says Hurlock, referring to the G-692, a metal center section X-ray tube insert that is a compatible upgrade to most fluoroscopic and radiographic systems.

According to Hurlock, Varian has also developed a new platform of Anode End Grounded X-ray tubes designed for diagnostic imaging systems. “Our AEG X-ray tubes are half the size and weight of traditional X-ray tubes, but capable of producing twice the continuous power,” he says.

Sales in the sector
Dunlee has seen double-digit sales growth over the past year, according to Kuehn. “We expect the same for 2012, primarily due to the new products that we’ve introduced,” he says.

Similarly, Varian has also been enjoying successful sales. “Our business grew significantly last year,” says Hurlock.

“X-ray tube sales have been steady, but not as good as they were in the past,” says Technical Prospect’s Probst, who adds that prices are being driven down as more third-party glass solutions become available. For his company, there has been less of a turn-around for lower-end X-ray tubes, but portable tubes have been holding steady. “As far as image intensifiers go, I would say our sales have dropped and definitely the prices have gone down,” he says.

January 2012 Magazine

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