Mobile Imaging Services: A Billion Dollar Market
The delivery of diagnostic imaging services is changing. With patients demanding and deserving accessible care, hospitals need to reach people in the most cost-effective and convenient way. According to a report by Grand View Research, Inc., the global mobile imaging services market is expected to reach 2.05 billion by 2025, registering a growth rate of 3.2% from 2014. Demand for mobile imaging services is increasing and mobile coaches have become an integral component of the healthcare system, delivering high quality imaging services to both rural and urban populations thus improving patient access and care.
Reasons to Think Mobile
Convenience and Flexibility
The biggest advantage of mobile coaches over fixed sites is their ability to move! Mobile coaches deliver imaging services to patients that would otherwise be deprived of care due to location, population size or cost. According to the National Rural Health Association, the patient-to-primary care physician ratio in rural areas is only 39.8 physicians per 100,000 people, compared to 53.3 physicians per 100,000 in urban areas. Mobile imaging is a great way to extend imaging services to these communities. Additionally, mobile coaches can rotate between locations according to patient volume and need alleviating patient backlog. Mobile coaches have also been called into service during weather emergencies, construction and downed equipment to keep critical imaging services available.
Lower Fixed Costs
In many cases, patient volume doesn’t warrant the building of an in-house imaging suite or the cost exceeds the allotted budget, making a mobile coach a welcome option. Mobile imaging gives hospitals the most advanced technology and imaging services without the up-front capital expense of purchasing equipment. In a report by Mobile Health Map, the average return on investment for mobile health is 12:1, meaning for every $1 spent, $12 is saved. Hospitals often find that the mobile coach was so cost effective that they keep the coach permanently to continue to serve their patient population.
Potential Source of Increased Revenue
Sharing a mobile imaging coach between locations can enhance the potential for revenue. By synchronizing imaging scan schedules, a group of providers can all reap the benefits of a mobile imaging coach. Covering the costs with a standard payment to the parent location justifies the purchase and cost of the mobile coach.
Based on the forecasted direction of the healthcare imaging market, it’s hard to deny that mobile imaging is the future of quality healthcare for facilitators, providers and patients alike. Mobile coaches are a cost effective and targeted solution to serve a wider and broader patient population. Year after year, mobile imaging continues to be a key strategy to meet changes and challenges in the healthcare market. Going mobile provides you with the capability to lower costs and improve patient outcomes.