Cardiology is a huge opportunity for growth for ASCs as payers and CMS see the benefit in moving procedures to the outpatient setting.
Here are three recent moves that point to a growing interest in outpatient cardiology:
1. Hattiesburg, Miss.-based Forrest General Hospital and the Hattiesburg Clinic partnered to open Mississippi's first ambulatory cardiovascular surgery center.
2. This year, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners inked a deal with ValueHealth to expand access to high-value surgical care. Alongside a value-based focus, the partnership will also try to capitalize on cardiology's migration to the outpatient setting.
3. In July, Aetna dropped its policy to not cover cardiac PET/CT scans following a joint letter from the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.