As is true with all the sectors of the health care industry, medical laboratories have seen significant growth over the last decade plus with revenues more than doubling between 1997 and 2007.

The Bureau of the Census definition for “medical laboratories” reads as follows: “This U.S. industry comprises establishments known as medical laboratories primarily engaged in providing analytic or diagnostic services, including body fluid analysis, generally to the medical profession or to the patient on referral from a health practitioner.”

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: $10.4 billion and $24.3 billion in annual receipts respectively
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 62: Health Care and Social Assistance Programs: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002,” March 26, 2010, available online here. Data for 1997 are from a report by the same title in the “1997 Economic Census” series.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census