From the November 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
General X-ray — Radiographic and radiographic fluoroscopy (RF)
The digital radiography market has remained steady over the past 12 months and is still very competitive between multiple vendors. Since the COVID-19 infection rate has declined in 2022, customer inquiries and purchasing activity for portable X-ray systems has begun to slow. The most active market segment is fixed radiography systems, which are typically replacements for older units. We see equal activity between single and dual detector system purchases depending on patient volumes and budgeting. There is still significant activity for value systems quoted through third-party dealers, which often are purchased for imaging centers, clinics, and smaller facilities. The purchase of flat panel detectors (digital retrofits) has slowed significantly as they are well-established in the market and are typically only replaced due to age or damage.
Purchasing activity for fluoroscopy systems has also remained steady over the past 12 months. Fluoroscopy is a mature market, and the majority of purchases seen are for replacing older equipment. Most of the quoting activity is an even mix of remote and conventional (tableside systems). Remote systems have become more popular over the past few years, especially for facilities with high patient volumes. We see limited activity for multipurpose RF systems, which are often used as overflow rooms for angiography or interventional procedures.
Service contracts and service support
Service continues to be an area that needs focus and oversight, demanding an organized and centralized view of an organization’s major medical capital service costs. While change is afoot, historically, service renewals were under the purview of individual clinical departments. This decentralized approach risks automatic renewals without a review or verification of cost — or consideration of whether a technology needs a different level of service or a contracted service at all.
Most service and support contracts are maintained by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service. Some may be based on a sole-sourced service vendor that supports multiple OEM technologies on a single contract. The high M&A activity in healthcare has created an opportunity for newly combined health systems to evaluate multiple contracts across the enterprise, choosing variable levels of coverage, variable terms, and variable renewal dates. Consolidating into a single master service agreement (MSA) offers savings opportunities via a coordinated, negotiated agreement; a coordinated term and renewal date, and the opportunity to review and validate the right level of service. Again, in some cases the decision may be to eliminate the service contract across all locations. There are also options for healthcare enterprises to pool imaging components such as detectors, tubes, transducers, and other technology subject to degradation based on volume and procedure protocols.
