Private equity investors are showing increased interest in the cardiology space. Why? Likely several reasons, Foley and Lardner write.
The United States is aging, and becoming more obese, and the need for cardiologists will increase as a result. This increase in demand is likely to outstrip the number of cardiologists practicing in the United States given a looming shortage of those specialists. In addition, cardiology practices still drive high margin procedures and are well-suited to leverage revenue generators such as nuclear medicine, ultrasound, and office-based labs (OBLs) and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), especially as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases more procedures that can be performed in an ambulatory setting.
Cardiology remains one of the most lucrative medical specialties in the United States. According to a survey conducted by Merritt Hawkins, cardiovascular surgeons and invasive cardiologists drive, on average, $3.5 to $3.7 million per physician, respectively, in hospital revenues. Moreover, there has been a significant move of cardiology procedures from inpatient to outpatient settings, including office based laboratories and ambulatory surgery centers, which is being further energized by CMS’ addition of cardiac procedures (23 to be exact in 2019 and 2020) to Medicare’s ASC approved list. Read more.
