Medical & Imaging Labs
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 8,800 medical and imaging labs in the US perform analytical and diagnostic services for patients and health care providers. Medical labs provide a variety of testing services, including routine clinical, anatomic pathology, genetic, and esoteric tests. Other types of testing include drug use, risk assessment for life insurance, and dental. Imaging labs provide diagnostic procedures, including x-rays; MRI, CT and PET scans; ultrasound; mammography; nuclear medicine; and fluoroscopy.
Competition from Health Care Providers and Academia
Medical and imaging labs compete with hospitals, clinics, physicians, and universities for services.
Complying With Government Regulation
Medical and imaging labs must be licensed and must adhere to federal and state government regulations which establish technical, operational, personnel and quality requirements.
Industry size & Structure
A typical medical lab operates out of single location, employs 63 workers, and generates about $11 million annually. A typical imaging lab operates out of a single location, employs about 17 workers, and generates about $4.5 million annually.
- The medical lab industry consists of about 8,800 companies, employs 320,000 workers, and generates about $72 billion annually.
- Large medical labs include Laboratory Corporation of America, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare. Large imaging labs include RadNet, Imaging Healthcare Specialists, and Intrinsic Imaging.
Industry Forecast
Medical & Imaging Labs Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jul 16, 2024 - Employment Decreases, Wages Increase
- Medical and imaging laboratory industry employment decreased slightly during the first five months of 2024 while wages for nonsupervisory employees increased significantly, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Medical and imaging labs kept prices unchanged during the first five months of 2024, according to the BLS.
- US health spending increased 7.1% year over year in April and represented 17.7% of GDP, according to health care nonprofit organization Altarum. Personal health care spending increased 7.6%, year over year in April, with utilization growth continuing to outpace price growth. The overall Health Care Price Index (HCPI) increased 3.4% year over year in May. The HCPI increased 2.9% year over year in April. Economywide inflation held mostly steady, with year-over-year growth in the overall Consumer Price Index falling slightly to 3.3% and growth in the Producer Price Index slowing to 2.2%.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finalized a plan to regulate laboratory-developed medical tests due to concerns about reliability and risks to patients. The agency says that inaccurate results may force patients to unnecessarily start a new treatment or delay care. Major industry players, including academic medical centers that develop their own tests and large commercial laboratories, have opposed the plan, and some analysts expect the opponents to sue the FDA to prevent the new rules from going into effect.
- The US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the US Department of Health and Human Services said in early March that they are investigating how certain transactions in the healthcare sector may increase consolidation and boost corporate profits at the expense of patient health, worker safety, quality of care, and affordability. The agencies have issued a request for information, seeking public comment on deals conducted by health systems, private payers, private equity funds, and other alternative asset managers that involve healthcare providers, facilities, or ancillary products or services. Research shows the competition in healthcare provider and payer markets leads to higher-quality and lower-cost healthcare, as well as greater access to care and higher wages and benefits for workers, agency officials said.
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