Recently, at least one analyst (Bell Potter) has suggested that the rate of growth in the US market for trophon units may be tapering due to US distributor GE Healthcare having restocked off an anomalously low inventory base in the first half of 2016/17 and now having a more normal inventory requirement.
Well, I'm not so sure, because even though it is a valid point made by Bell Potter, I think it is now being offset by the ramp-up in regulatory enforcement activities being undertaken across the US by the Joint Commission in regard to high level disinfection requirements in hospitals and clinics following any vaginal ultrasound procedure.
The Joint Commission is the regulatory authority responsible for all aspects of hospital and clinic accreditation in the US and it underpins that responsibility with a series of scheduled and unscheduled surveys on general and specific practices relating to disinfection requirements in healthcare settings.
The following link is to (among other things) a recent action plan submitted by the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) in response to deficiencies at the Hospital in implementing high level disinfection of transducers used in vaginal ultrasound procedures, which had been identified by the Joint Commission in an unscheduled Intra-Cycle Monitoring Survey of the hospital facility. (https://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/hc/...JCC APRIL 2017 .docx final .docx 5.17.17.pdf )
Page 4 of the document indicates the complete willingness of ZSFG in the wake of the JC Survey to immediately invest in trophon units and in requisite operational training for relevant staff in using the trophon equipment, in order to ensure future compliance with this aspect of the facility's accreditation.
I suspect that this type of response to unscheduled (or scheduled) Joint Commission Surveys is now increasing rapidly across the US as hospitals and clinics scramble to comply with high level disinfection requirements following certain ultrasound procedures. If so, it may not be a long bow to draw to suggest that this trend could be more than offsetting the normalisation of GE inventory orders following the big restocking order in the first half of the FY.
zeno9
NAN Price at posting:
$2.51 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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