UCLA Health - Ambulatory Surgery Center Westwood in Los Angeles was ranked the top ASC in the country by Newsweek and global research firm Statista. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic ushering in many changes to the healthcare industry, leaders need to recognize emerging patterns to identify areas primed for growth.

The number of ASCs is growing across the U.S. as patients and payers demand more outpatient surgery, and the national population is growing overall while state populations continue to shift.

Physician assistants saw the biggest average increase in salary among all specialists in 2021, according to a recent report by physician search and consulting firm Merritt Hawkins. 

Massachusetts is the safest state during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent analysis by WalletHub, a personal finance website. 

Medscape's annual Physician Compensation Report details the top-earning physician specialties. In the last five years, orthopedics and plastic surgery have remained at the top of the list, while general surgery has not made the top 10 list since 2017.

Plastic surgery is the highest-paying physician specialty in 2021, according to Medscape's 2021 Physician Compensation Report.

Almost 20 percent of physicians ages 40-69 still have student loan debt, according to the Medscape Young Physician Compensation Report 2021.

The U.S. is expected to reach a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, and cardiology could be hit the hardest, according to a report by physician search and consulting firm Merritt Hawkins.

Given the financial blow the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt to many areas of healthcare, it may be no surprise that salaries for some medical specialties declined over the past year.

Physicians in the U.S. on average have far a higher net worth than physicians in many other countries, according to Medscape's "International Physician Compensation Report."

Physician assistant employment is projected to grow by 31 percent from 2020 to 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Here are 99 operations, finance and quality benchmarks in ASCs gathered from several sources across the industry.

The already looming physician shortage was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — pushing physicians to plan for early retirement. 

Average annual pay for plastic surgeons increased 10 percent in 2021, the most significant rise among specialties, according to Medscape's Physician Compensation Report, which collected responses from about 18,000 U.S. physicians from Oct. 6, 2020, through Feb. 11.

Fifty three percent of physicians said physician bad behavior was due to general personal arrogance, according to Medscape's report, "Physicians Behaving Badly: Has It Gotten Worse?"

A recent survey found that while 70 percent of Americans trust their physicians, only 22 percent trust hospital executives. 

Physicians in the U.S. on average earn far more than their counterparts in other countries and rank significantly higher in terms of net worth, according to Medscape's "International Physician Compensation Report."

Here's how physician compensation and physician specialties stack up in more than 100 key statistics.

Surgical specialists and proceduralists reported a slight drop in overall pay despite large decreases in productivity last year during the pandemic, according to AMGA's 2021 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity survey.