Report: Five Fastest-Growing Tests in Physician Office Labs
NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Although the market for IVD products sold in physician office labs (POLs) is expected to show minimal growth, certain test categories will perform above average in terms of revenues, according to Kalorama Information. Kalorama found that the market grows at a little more than 3% per year, but that certain tests will see faster revenue growth. The finding was made in Kalorama Information's recent report, Physician Office Laboratory Markets.
Kalorama last conducted a survey of physician office labs in 2010. Its updated physician office report is available at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Physician-Office-Laboratory-8339073/.
The POL market encompasses a variety of institutions beyond physician practices, including specialty and multispecialty clinics; other primary care and urgent care clinics; and outpatient clinics not located or associated with a hospital (or hospital lab) or outpatient surgical services. Physician office laboratories are diverse in their capabilities and setting. Individual practitioners may simply perform reimbursable, in-office pregnancy and glucose tests. Some specialty practices and clinics run CBCs and chemistry panels using small lab and benchtop automated analyzers requiring moderate complexity CLIA compliance. Medicare physician filings also indicate POLs perform moderate complexity infectious disease tests using plate immunoassays and molecular assays as well as in-situ hybridization tests using tissue samples.
According to the report the following tests will demonstrate faster-than-average revenue growth in the global POL market.
- Anemia tests and markers including B12/folate, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and ferritin largely round out the POL market for anemia tests Test demand remains high due to demographic aging as well as the clinical prevalence of anemia and available remedial treatments able to be initiated by primary care practitioners.
- Microalbumin is an important marker of kidney function in diabetics that has seen increased usage by physicians worldwide. With increasing standards of diabetic care and intervention in the developing world and still rising usage of the test in North America and Europe, the POL microalbumin test market is expected to demonstrate revenue growth of 10% per year.
- Cardiac Markers (CK-MB, other assays of creatine kinase [CK], troponins, myoglobin and BNPs) on laboratory medicine and rapid tests are used for the early detection of CVD risk in at risk individuals.
- CRP –a known marker of chronic inflammation and can be used to detect infections and differentiate between bacterial (significantly elevated CRP) and viral infections. High-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) is an assay form increasingly present on POC analyzers and is used to determine if slightly elevated CRP levels are present, an indicator of CVD risk. CRP tests are much more widely used in European POLs, especially German and Swiss markets, than in U.S. POLs.
- HbA1c –usually checked on diabetics during their routine visits, Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a hemoglobin variant with attached glucose that is clinically significant as a measure of long-term blood sugar levels (or hemoglobin's exposure to glucose) and as an evaluation tool for patient glucose control. Ideally, insulin-dependent diabetics should have their HbA1c fraction tested every 3 months. The HbA1c test market does not depend upon frequent consumer testing to generate volume, but rather has delivered growth through more regular patient screening, the limited introduction of self-testing, and rising application in healthcare systems worldwide.
In addition to these areas, Kalorama sees the possibility that molecular tests will reach the POL. Routine infectious disease testing has invited the first forays of molecular diagnostics into the space. Several molecular platforms already support ease-of-use, moderately complex flu assays that can be performed outside of central labs. While CLIA waivers for such molecular assays would assuredly boost their market potential, regulators' concerns over CLIA-waived test QA/QC measures among POC users will likely delay the first such milestone waiver for molecular POC. Moderate-complexity molecular systems' penetration among CLIA-certified POLs is expected to represent only a minor paradigm of growth for the overall POL market.
Kalorama Information's Physician Office Laboratory Markets presents readers not only the leading opportunities for IVD sales growth in the POL channel, but is also a valuable resource for determining competitive positioning within the channel vis-à-vis its leading players. Find this report in addition to other industry leading research from Kalorama Information at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/.
About Kalorama Information -- Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog.
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SOURCE Kalorama Information
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