This report originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News

If you build it, they don't have to come. That's the great thing about medical equipment trailers that bring mobile diagnostic imaging and other medical services directly to patients.

"Temporary space is a much more cost-effective way of providing health care services than building brick and mortar structures. Then, if demographics change after a new facility is built you can move a mobile trailer," said Tony Ellis, vice president and general manager, Oshkosh Specialty Vehicles, Calumet City, Ill. "If you are really looking for cost-effectiveness and how to utilize the machines best, there is no more efficient delivery model than the mobile. Ease of transfer to emerging technology is easier since you are not locked into a physical structure."


But despite the benefit of a flexible and cost-effective medical service delivery method, sales of new trailers are down since 2007, the trailer manufacturers told DOTmed Business News. As an imaging-dominated industry sector, mobile trailers have suffered along with fixed systems, experiencing double digit declines in the last two years due in part to reimbursement cuts.

"The market is down for all the primary mobile medical uses - MRI, PET, and PET/CT - and across the board whether mobile or fixed equipment," reported Geoffrey A. Smith, president, Medical Coaches, Oneonta, NY. "Add to that the uncertainty over health care; even the people trying to pass [health care reform laws] are uncertain."

"Our market is slow now because it's driven by OEM sales which are slow. Once that picks up, the interim rentals will pick up and so will our business," said Bill King, president, King Equipment Services, Inc., a mobile trailer refurbisher in Waukegan, Ill.

Customers for mobile trailer makers include OEMs, mobile health service providers, brokers and hospitals. Mobile trailers are mainly used to deploy diagnostic imaging services either to improve patient access such as in rural areas, or to provide interim services while hospitals and facilities upgrade or handle patient overflow. Since the diagnostic imaging market has declined after the Deficit Reduction Act became law, the overall sector has suffered. Yet, several trailer market segments should be examined separately since the mobile business is so diverse.




"Every market sector is different," observed Smith. "Hospitals are facing a real challenge; buying capital equipment is treated differently on their balance statement and income sheet. They can buy things from an operational budget so they are leaning more toward purchasing shared services than buying equipment. It does open up opportunities but some hospitals aren't making any decisions and are staying with the equipment they have.

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