All
Suppliers
Products
CAD Models
Diverse Suppliers
Insights
By Category, Company or Brand
All Regions
Alabama
Alaska
Alberta
Arizona
Arkansas
British Columbia
California - Northern
California - Southern
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Manitoba
Maryland
Massachusetts - Eastern
Massachusetts - Western
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Brunswick
New Hampshire
New Jersey - Northern
New Jersey - Southern
New Mexico
New York - Metro
New York - Upstate
Newfoundland & Labrador
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ohio - Northern
Ohio - Southern
Oklahoma
Ontario
Oregon
Pennsylvania - Eastern
Pennsylvania - Western
Prince Edward Island
Puerto Rico
Quebec
Rhode Island
Saskatchewan
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas - North
Texas - South
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Yukon

Medical Equipment Sourcing Spikes as Healthcare Industry Booms

Tony Uphoff
1/27/2019 | 5 min read
Subscribe
Medical Equipment Sourcing Spikes as Healthcare Industry Booms

This Thomas Index Report is sponsored by Nelipak® Healthcare Packaging, a full-service global provider of custom thermoformed packaging that provides superior protection for medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Hello again. This week we’re going to take a look at sourcing activity for Medical Equipment & Supplies by users of the Thomasnet.com platform. Our data shows that over the past 12 weeks, sourcing activity for this category is up 11% over its historical average.

The medical industry in the US is massive, with total healthcare expenditures expected to reach $3.78 trillion in 2018 alone. In what some refer to as the “silver tsunami,” the aging baby boom generation has pushed the population of folks age 65 and up to more than 50 million Americans for the first time in history, and that number is projected to reach over 70 million in the next quarter century.

As an aging population requires increased medical care, this demographic wave promises to drive huge continued growth in the healthcare industry for the foreseeable future. That growth is already well underway – according to Yahoo Finance, the industry added 302,000 jobs so far in 2018 alone.

A potential obstacle for growth in the medical equipment & supplies market, at least in the short term, is the nearly $5 billion in retaliatory tariffs China has placed on US-made medical devices. As the current trade war continues, we’ll keep an eye on what our data shows in terms of any impact those tariffs may be having on sourcing activity in the category.

In addition to Medical Equipment & Supplies, our data also shows that sourcing activity is up 10% or more in the related categories of Surgical Instruments, Used & Refurbished Medical Equipment, and Medical Tubing.

Moving on from medical, here’s a look at the top 10 industrial product and service categories being sourced on the Thomasnet.com platform over the past four weeks:

  1. Steel
  2. CNC Machining
  3. Lumber
  4. Printed Circuit Boards
  5. Metal Fabrication
  6. Injection Molded Plastics
  7. Metal Stamping
  8. Corrugated Boxes
  9. Food Products
  10. Plastic Bottles

To get this weekly Thomas Index Report – as well as daily news and information for industry – sign up for our Thomas Industry Update newsletter at ThomasNet.com/updates.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.

Next Up in Thomas Index
Major Generator Manufacturer Offers Cost-Saving Generator Sizing Software
Show More in Thomas Index