CT Equipment Procedure Volumes and Reimbursement Growth Opportunities

Demand for Pulmonary and Abdomen-based Imaging Accelerating the Growth of CT Procedures

An estimated 375 million computed tomography (CT) procedures are carried out globally, increasing at 3% to 4% every year. While the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a drop in CT procedures by over 20%, the industry is expected to be completely functional by the end of 2021. Pandemic-based sanitization protocols and patient hesitancy remain restraining factors for operational efficiency and workflows. However, CT remains an indispensable tool in diagnosing and managing illness. For COVID-19, CT scans offer the broadest diagnostic window with promising clinical imaging for initial diagnosis and post-recovery outcomes. 

The CT industry is dynamic and involves many players that introduce technological innovations to match the rapidly evolving needs of clinicians, radiologists, and technologists. Innovations in CT, including spectral imaging, photon counting (to lower radiation dosage) with new detector materials, wide-area detector, and reconstruction algorithms for multi-detector CT technology, are expected to drive the market toward faster upgrades and equipment replacement. Most developed economies (North America, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia) have a CT penetration level of over 80% in their healthcare sectors. As CT is an indispensable tool for screening, intervention, and therapy planning, tertiary care hospitals liaise with secondary care facilities to handle patient volumes. Globally, the CT market is witnessing a gradual transition from low-end CT scanners to mid-high and high-end scanners. 

The shift toward high-end scanners is primarily due to the innovations in CT technology to reduce radiation dosage and expand clinical applications in vascular, oncology, cardiac, and breast cancer imaging. Revenue growth of high-end CT scanners will be primarily driven by purchases from large tertiary and university hospital segments in North America, Western Europe, and Japan. The proportion of shipments to diagnostic imaging centres and practices are increasing with 16 to 64-slice scanners, embarking on a path of moderate growth over the forecast period. Favourable reimbursement trends for procedures and the proportion of patients enrolling in private health insurance schemes will propel market growth further. The pandemic led to cancellations or postponements of elective surgeries, taking a toll on patient traffic in radiology and affecting CT modalities with a decrease of 20%-25% in procedural volumes in 2020. 

As economies move toward recovery, healthcare systems report a gradual increase in elective surgeries and are stepping up efforts to address the accumulated backlog at varying capacities. The continued demand for procedures coupled with new CT capacity purchases/replacement sales will bolster growth throughout the forecast period. Global markets are expected to return to pre-COVID-19 business performance levels between 2024 and 2025 from economic recovery and COVID-19 recovery rates.