Surgery Partners CEO Eric Evans said in the company's fourth-quarter earnings call that he expects cardiology to see a similar percentage of growth that orthopedics has since 2017.
Here are five cardiology insights from Surgery Partners' fourth-quarter earnings call:
1. Mr. Evans said Surgery Partners expects to launch seven to nine new cardiac rhythm management programs over the coming year.
2. Mr. Evans also said the company plans to build new facilities to accommodate the new cardiology programs. "[A] lot of these facilities can be efficiently built as de novo cardiac facilities. We're seeing more fill up in our pipeline, and we're certainly seeing more on the recruitment side."
3. From a business perspective, Mr. Evans said there is significant potential. "[Cardiology is] part of that next $60 billion that's moving out of [inpatient] facilities. It tends to be a place where the acute care world has really nice margins in cardiology."
4. Though orthopedics continues to serve as the gold standard for ASC specialty growth, Mr. Evans sees a similar trajectory forming for cardiology. "We started orthopedics in 2017. We grew that … by 50 percent over that period. I would expect something very similar in cardiology."
5. The specialty has become well-tuned for the outpatient setting, Mr. Evans said, noting that the company doesn't see increased risk from bolstering its cardiology programs. "The reality of it is these patients often go home within 24 hours today. They have for a long period of time. There's now been a lot of data backing up the efficacy of these procedures."