Economic crisis hits emerging markets

The weakest are always the most vulnerable in a crisis, a tenet that may currently apply to emerging markets for medical imaging equipment. Revenues from CT and MR scanner sales in Russia, Brazil, and India are expected to shrink by almost 15% this year, according to market analysis firm Millennium Research Group.

Brazil and India are at particular risk, because the global economic downturn forced a significant devaluation of Brazilian and Indian currencies during the first four months of 2009. This action, in turn, has increased the relative cost of imported diagnostic imaging systems from U.S. and European vendors. The higher pricing has made acquiring imported scanners difficult for facilities. As a result, growth in the Brazilian and Indian diagnostic imaging system markets will be severely limited in 2009. In Russia, falling demand for crude oil and a resulting drop in revenues has affected the country's economy, while mounting political unrest has increased uncertainty.

InSight buys two Boston area centers

InSight Health Services has completed the purchase of two imaging centers in the Boston metropolitan area. One provides MR exclusively; the other is a multimodality provider. The two centers expand the presence of Lake Forest, CA-based InSight's presence in its New England regional market, which stretches from Maine to Connecticut. InSight provides diagnostic services in more than 30 states through more than 60 fixed-site centers and more than 100 mobile assets.