Procedure Volumes and Reimbursement for MRI Equipment Growth Opportunities

Portable Point-of-Care Systems and an Increase in Cardiac & Neuro Imaging Accelerate MRI Procedures Across Regions

This research service provides an analysis of the procedure volumes and reimbursement trends for heart and lung imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Growth opportunities in terms of clinical applications and technologies are provided as well as an overview of unit shipment and revenue forecasts at the global level from 2019 to 2026. Reimbursement and procedure trends are discussed for North America (The United States) and Western Europe (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Spain).

MRI has become ubiquitous in multidisciplinary hospitals as a standard workhorse. The trends in this space are moving toward interventional applications (image guidance and procedural monitoring), tumor detection, and excision guidance. The use of MRI technology will expand across a broad range of clinical applications globally, owing to its increasing significance in modern medical diagnosis. Improvements in MRI systems, such as high-performance gradients, parallel imaging techniques, higher field strength, and new clinical applications, have substantially increased the level of quality and speed of image acquisition. Additionally, advanced imaging applications for different anatomies are gaining acceptance. Innovative uses of equipment are being explored in areas such as abdominal imaging, cardiac imaging, and cancer diagnosis.

Further, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in postponement of electives, which took a toll on patient footfall in radiology departments. Consequently, the MRI modality was affected, decreasing by 35 to 40% in procedural volumes and a backlog of procedures. Today, a gradual rise in electives and the attending to backlogs are occurring at varying capacities among health systems. Thus the continual surge in demand of procedures, coupled with new MRI capacity purchases/replacement sales will bolster market growth throughout the forecast period, and the break-even of pre-COVID-19 business performance is gauged to occur in 2024 and 2025. With the reimbursement approval from CPT and European regulation, MRI for cardiac and lung imaging has taken a significant stride.

Currently, penetration of MRI in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and South Africa is low compared to developed economies. With new business models and private healthcare services investing in MRI, an increase in procedural volume is evident.