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Go After Some Bargains

By Michael Shulman

Digital X-rays

Digital X-rays are just what they seem to be. The X-ray is taken, read by the doctor and then stored in digital form. They are a natural fit with electronic medical records, so they are catching on.

But the adoption rate is slow because digital X-rays work best for physicians and dentists with large offices -- and that's not too many of them. The only reason for physicians to switch to digital is to save money, and that won't work for a small office.

My dentist uses old fashioned X-rays for routine exams, but when I needed a root canal, my endodontist used a digital system that helps him with procedures and also provides much easier storage for a practice that has a large number of patients.

The market for digital X-rays is now more of a replacement market, and one of the fastest-growing components of this segment is the software behind records management.

The vendors in this segment are big companies and many have complete suites of software offerings.

Smaller companies must work with the large companies as sales partners and/or to ensure that their products are compatible with the big vendor's hardware.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

MRI is typically the next step after an X-ray for many physicians. The process is capable of detecting small abnormalities in the structures within the body and is quite effective in examining soft tissues, the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and column), the abdomen, organs and joints.

MRIs are a non-radioactive technique used to create images of the internal structures of the body, so patients can better tolerate many of them. Many people have had MRIs or have seen them performed on TV.

Patients are fed into a long tube, which is surrounded by a magnetic field that moves around the patient in a circular fashion. The resulting image is far more detailed than an X-ray and, while MRIs are fairly routine, their market share relative to more advanced imaging technology is shrinking.

ChangeWave Alliance surveys from as far back as four years ago identified this trend.

From an investment standpoint, the MRI segment is marked by money flowing toward big companies, not small hardware suppliers.