By 2030, more than 80% of cardiovascular procedures are expected to be eligible for ASCs and office-based labs, and Cardiovascular Logistics, a national, physician-led cardiovascular platform, is at the forefront of this migration.
The company recently launched a nationwide recruitment campaign inviting board-certified cardiologists to join its growing network of physician-led practices.
Kristen Richards, vice president of ambulatory care at CVL, joined Becker’s to discuss how the organization is addressing key barriers to outpatient growth, optimizing efficiency across its sites and redefining what physician leadership looks like in cardiovascular care.
Question: What are the most significant barriers still limiting the outpatient migration of cardio procedures, or more broadly, the growth of cardiology ASCs? And how is CVL addressing them?
Kristen Richards: There are quite a few, to be honest. Cardiovascular ASCs are still the new kid on the block — migration has been a little slower. We’re still dealing with reimbursement issues. Reimbursement is definitely lower in this space — about 53% lower than a hospital outpatient department. That can be challenging if you’re not operationally efficient and focused on leveraging your organization to get better pricing. Financial sustainability can be tough.
Also, about 50% of states still have certificate of need laws that restrict PCIs or complex interventions, which creates barriers for outpatient migration. The cost of setting up a cardiovascular ASC is also significant because of the complexity of the equipment. Outfitting a single room can cost well over $1.5 million.
From a CVL standpoint, as we bring on more affiliates, if a group doesn’t already have an ASC strategy, we create one together. That’s critical for us and core to our mission. We’re focused on providing outstanding cardiovascular care and greater access at a lower cost — and ASCs are primed for that. They’re the right setting for patients: lower cost, great experience. That’s been our focus — helping our partners offer these services in their communities.
Q: Can you share an example of how CVL has optimized operations or improved patient throughput in an outpatient cath lab or ASC?
KR ASCs are already designed for efficiency and a better patient experience. One area we’ve been focused on is leveraging our organizational scale to get better vendor and supply agreements. As you can imagine, supply costs are high in cardiovascular care — stents, devices, defibrillators, pacemakers — they all add up. This year we’ve worked with our vendors to standardize pricing across all of our ASCs and outpatient labs. That’s been important in achieving significant cost savings.
Q: What makes CVL stand out in the cardiovascular market?
KR: What makes us unique is that we’re physician-owned and physician-led. That’s huge. Our physicians are our customers and partners — we don’t make decisions without their involvement. That collaboration is critical to our success.
