Portable Ultrasound Devices Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Rising prevalence of accidents: Road accident cases are significantly increasing owing to reckless driving and over speeding. In the year 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that globally 1.19 million people will lose their lives in traffic accidents each year and about 20-50 million people will suffer from non-fatal injuries brought on by accidents. The demand for portable ultrasound devices is increasing due to the rising number of emergency operations.
• New product launches: The introduction of new products into the market is one of the key elements anticipated to propel market growth over the forecast period. In recent years, there has been an increase in product launches to cater to rising need for technologically advanced and handy ultrasound devices.  In July 2023, Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc. announced the launch of PocketPro H2, a handheld wireless device for general imaging for point-of-care settings.

Challenges

• Issues with regulatory reform in conjunction with limited compensation: The restricted reimbursement for medical imaging is one of the restraints that is anticipated to restrict the growth of the global market during the forecast period. For example, reimbursement for operations involving portable ultrasonography is only given if the usage satisfies all standards specified by that specific payer. Additionally, as medical ultrasonography is a relatively new technique, it is sometimes classified as investigative and is not covered by the CPT code list.
• Delay in product approvals and shortage of sonographers: The market for portable ultrasound devices is anticipated to grow steadily due to the non-approval of medical products including ultrasound systems. Moreover, severe shortage of laboratory and medical experts due to poor pay and rising workloads in many developing economies is expected to hamper overall market growth during the forecast period.