The advent of new service solutions for European imaging providers has heightened the appeal of outsourcing radiology service and maintenance elements to third-party vendors, according to a report published by market research firm Frost & Sullivan of San Jose, CA.
The volume of outsourced maintenance services, including multivendor, shared, and managed equipment services, is growing in response to pressure from governmental health policies and healthcare insurance companies to reduce spending, Frost said. The firm believes that changes in service delivery such as ongoing training, consultancy, and out-of-hours service, may boost areas currently outside the imaging equipment services spectrum.
The company expects these services to be instrumental in sustaining momentum in the European medical imaging equipment services market, which Frost said is currently worth $1.19 billion (U.S.). In addition, with an increased number of networked modalities on the continent, the firm sees growth in remote diagnostics and maintenance by service centers, enabling more efficient and cost-effective service.
Although 90% of the European medical imaging equipment services market is dominated by GE Medical Systems, Philips Medical Systems, and Siemens Medical Solutions, the study points to a number of small local players, often confined to a particular region, that offer services for particular imaging modalities and are able to compete on price and the location of their service engineers in the field.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersAugust 7, 2003
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