Report: China's hospital privatization boosts device, Dx opportunities

Concord Medical Services Holdings has finalized a deal for a 52% stake in China's 1,000-bed Chang'an Hospital, the latest example of China's push to have 20% of its hospital beds privately owned by 2015. As Bloomberg notes, that policy advance, in the context of China's soaring medical services market, will only stand to benefit medical device and diagnostics companies seeking to do business there. The country's medical services market is growing 18% each year and will reach $500 billion by 2015, according to Deloitte China. And the hospital boost, in turn, has increased demand in China for CT and MRI machines, ultrasound and other diagnostic tools and devices, the article notes. Companies, such as GE Healthcare, have already tried to take advantage of the market by opening or planning to open innovation centers in the country. Story