Facilities will face difficulty obtaining credit for capital expenditures, according to Millennium Research Group

January 20, 2009—Waltham, Massachusetts—According to Millennium Research Group’s (MRG’s) US Markets for Video and High-Tech Hardware Devices 2009 report, medical facilities will face increased difficulty obtaining credit at favorable terms to fund capital expenditures in 2009 due to the ongoing US economic crisis. With the economic crisis expected to soften by 2010, however, this market will resume its steady rise, resulting in a CAGR of 7% from 2008 to 2013.

The operating room (OR) integration segment will be hit hard by reduced capital equipment funding. Because many integration projects in the OR have lengthy sales cycles that can last more than a year, the full effect of the downturn has not yet been realized, and as a result, 2009 unit sales for OR integration devices will suffer.

“Besides obtaining credit, many facilities have also relied on returns from their investment portfolios to fund capital equipment expenditures, and many saw those returns reduced considerably in 2008,” says Tiffanie Demone, Senior Analyst at MRG. “Consequently, facilities have been forced to freeze capital expenditure budgets. With credit expected to remain tight and financial markets staying well below earlier levels until 2010, some facilities will defer construction and renovation of integrated ORs.”

MRG’s US Markets for Video and High-Tech Hardware Devices 2009 report provides in-depth coverage of key industry markets, such as endoscopic camera systems, surgical monitors, articulated surgical robotic devices, OR integration devices, capsule endoscopy, and surgical lights. Competitors covered include BERCHTOLD, Given Imaging, Intuitive Surgical, KARL STORZ, Olympus, Skytron, STERIS, Stryker, and many more.