The global healthcare industry is expanding rapidly, with a large number of hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, diagnostic centers, and blood banks mushrooming across the world. The developing healthcare system presents a strong business case for the sales of new medical equipment.

Additionally, the increase in the number of patients seeking diagnostics and therapeutic help is subjecting medical devices and instruments to increased wear and tear, thus shortening the replacement cycle.

Moreover, rapid technological advancements, coupled with the growing complexity in healthcare provision, are fast rendering existing medical devices obsolete, and therefore spurring the need for equipment upgrades.

Medical equipment leasing and medical equipment rental services offer considerable advantages in comparison to other modes of equipment financing. Both cash-strapped small-scale healthcare facilities as well as resource-rich large-scale medical enterprises are opting for the leasing and rental mode due to the lower total cost of ownership, and tax benefits realized when compared to outright purchase of equipment.

Medical equipment leasing is gaining in prominence due to the ease of securing leasing agreements, when compared to the hassles of getting a bank loan approved. Through equipment leasing, healthcare institutions can avoid locking-in capital into new equipment purchases, and improve the return on investment.

As stated by the new market research report on Medical Equipment Rental and Leasing (MERL), Europe and the US represent the major regional markets worldwide. Emerging markets, driven by Asia-Pacific, will witness the fastest compound annual growth rate of 7% over the analysis period.

Growth in these regions will be led by improving healthcare infrastructure, rising per-capita medical spending, and funding constraints which are shifting preferences towards leasing and rental alternatives for procuring sophisticated medical devices.

The key factors aggravating funding constraints include healthcare reforms, slowdown in government annual healthcare expenditure, and changing medical reimbursement structure.

Major players covered in the MERL report include Agfa Finance Corp., Direct Capital Corp., De Lage Landen International B.V., GE Healthcare Financial Services, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., IBJ Leasing Company Ltd., National Technology Leasing Corp., Oak Leasing Ltd., Prudential Leasing Inc., Resource Diversified Services Inc., Rotech Healthcare Inc., Siemens Financial Services, Stryker Corp., and Universal Hospital Services Inc, among others.

The research report titled Medical Equipment Rental and Leasing: A Global Strategic Business Report announced by Global Industry Analysts provides a comprehensive review of market trends, growth drivers, market size and demand projections and forecasts. Major geographic regions covered include the US, Japan, Europe and Rest of World. The report also offers coverage on acquisitions, service launches, and other strategic industry activities of major players.