Just five companies in 2016 accounted for more than half of the total revenue of the global radiology and cardiology IT market as it continues to move toward integrated healthcare solutions, according to a new IHS Markit report on the subject. And while the replacement market in mature territories like the United States and Western Europe remains competitive, sociopolitical and economic prospects in various emerging markets are less promising and will inhibit growth.
The report, entitled “Radiology and Cardiology IT – 2017,” offers a close look at the global radiology and cardiology IT market’s various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential barriers. It evaluates trends sweeping the market, provides revenue forecasts through 2021, and supplies detailed information on the six largest sub-regional territories—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Japan—as well as on 49 sub-regional markets.
The small list of five companies dominating the worldwide radiology and cardiology IT markets indicates prevailing high concentration in the hands of a few. Together Chicago-headquartered GE Healthcare, Belgian-German conglomerate AGFA Healthcare, Philips of the Netherlands, Nashville-based Change Healthcare (formerly McKesson), and Fujifilm of Japan held 57% of the market’s total revenue of $2.8 billion.
Within the market, the largest segment is radiology picture archiving communication systems (PACS). An electronic imaging technology that eliminates the need for physical materials when storing or transmitting medical data, radiology PACS took in a whopping 78% of the total in global radiology and cardiology IT revenue.
Among regions, the combined markets of North America and Western Europe represented more than three-fifths of worldwide revenue, but saturation is driving vendors to focus on differentiation in products and services. Meanwhile, a dearth in robust IT infrastructure and limited bandwidth is hampering growth in emerging markets in parts of Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The Asia-Pacific market, however, is projected to enjoy the fastest growth in both radiology IT and cardiology IT in the years to come.
The developments in the global radiology and cardiology IT space are part of a larger worldwide trend in which healthcare providers are adopting newer, more innovative, and integrated healthcare IT solutions. Providers are hoping to increase efficiency in operations while also attempting to address continually changing reimbursement models.
Moving forward, key market opportunities will lie with managed services to cater to user demand, as well as with scalable, lightweight solutions; lengthier and more comprehensive contracts; and integrated solutions that are interoperable with business analytics platforms. In the short term as providers look to replace siloed solutions, IHS Markit predicts that the interoperability of a solution will have the biggest bearing on procurement decisions.
For more info:
- On this topic, see our Radiology & Cardiology IT - 2017 report and our market insight
- On our coverage of this and related topics, such as Electronic Health Records and Vendor-neutral Archives, visit our Healthcare IT research service category
Nile Kazimer is an Analyst, Healthcare Technology, at the IHS Technology Group within IHS Markit
Posted 11 September 2017