Despite concerns over reimbursement, steady procedural growth continues to add to the underlying strength of the MRI market in the U.S., with scanner sales forecast to rise in coming years due to the need to replace aging equipment, according to a new market analysis and forecast.
The report, "MR Market Outlook Study: Present Practice and Future Outlook, 2011-2013," describes how the MRI industry is emerging from the recent recession without permanent damage.
"MRI is in a secure place," said Lorna Young, senior director of market research at IMV Medical Information Division of Des Plaines, IL, which published the report.
The report, based on a survey of 452 MRI business managers, indicates that MRI has settled into a period of steady 3.2% annual utilization growth. It estimated that 30.2 million MR procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2010. This represents a 9.8% increase from the 2007 total of 27.5 million procedures identified by a previous IMV study, Young said.
Procedure growth has been stimulated by demand from an aging population, new clinical applications, and a possible shift from CT and radiography because of radiation exposure concerns. Orders for spine and extremity studies have increased. Though breast MR represents only 4% of total procedures, its use has jumped 85% per year since 2007, Young noted. The survey detected no change from 2007 to 2010 in pediatric MRI's 10% share of total utilization, however.
MRI centers are increasingly targeting services for specific medical specialists, such as orthopedic surgeons. The report suggests that prostate MRI is also emerging as new clinical focal point.
Declining reimbursement
Despite rising utilization, the report found that MRI services remain under financial pressure because of declining reimbursement rates. Survey respondents pointed to planned revisions of Medicare's Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) as the next possible blow for reimbursement. Comments gathered by IMV suggest those changes this year will favor hospital-owned outpatient MRI at the expense of entrepreneurial freestanding services, Young said.
"Right now, the reimbursement rates are hitting people hard," she said.
Still, a surge of MRI scanner sales is expected this year as imaging facilities address aging equipment inventories. The last peak period for new scanner installations was between 2002 and 2004. Those systems are now approaching retirement age despite efforts by owners to extend their useful lives.
The report predicted that more than 2,600 new MR systems will be purchased in the next three years; more than 700 sales to U.S. facilities could be completed in 2011.
Administrators at hospitals with at least 400 beds had the most ambitious plans for MR equipment acquisition. More than half of these respondents said their hospitals plan to buy at least one new MR system this year.
Freestanding imaging centers are less likely to buy new equipment. Managers at one in four facilities said they had short-term plans to buy a new system.
Wide-bore 1.5-tesla MRI remains the "bread and butter" platform for the modality, Young noted. Approximately three out of five systems sold this year in the U.S. will be equipped with a 1.5-tesla magnet and a bore diameter of 70 cm or wider.
Larger hospitals are the primary market for 3-telsa MRI systems. Nearly one in five hospitals plans to buy a 3-telsa MRI scanner in the future, Young said.
Freestanding centers are looking at open MRI system designs or cylindrical wide-bore configurations for their next purchases; 70% are looking at either of those two designs, she said.
The report estimated that 6,285 fixed-site and approximately 480 mobile MRI systems were operating in the U.S. at the end of 2010. Hospitals with fewer than 200 beds are the primary customers for mobile MRI.
The IMV report was based on data and opinions from 452 MRI business managers who responded to an online survey in December 2010. Respondents represented 302 hospitals and 150 freestanding imaging centers. Results were compared to similar IMV surveys conducted in 2007, 2003, 2001, and 1999.
Disclosure notice: AuntMinnie.com is owned by IMV, Ltd.
