Novocardia™ CEO Dan Blumenthal Shares His Vision for the Future of Cardiovascular Care with Gist Healthcare Daily

Novocardia CEO Dan Blumenthal, MD, MBA, was a featured guest on a recent episode of Gist Healthcare Daily podcast. The podcast features leaders in health policy and business to discuss national trends and advances in medicine and the delivery of healthcare. Gist Healthcare Daily is hosted by Alexandra Olgin, a former healthcare reporter for National Public Radio (NPR).

According to a report by the consulting firm Bain and Company, the number of cardiology procedures done in ambulatory surgery centers is rapidly growing, and will reach about 33 percent of cardiology procedures in the next few years. Ambulatory surgery centers (ACS) can often offer surgical procedures at rates 35 to 50 percent lower than hospitals.

The shift to outpatient services presents opportunities for cardiologists, Blumenthal says. To help cardiology practices capitalize on the shift, Novocardia offers cardiology practices assistance and guidance in launching new service lines to promote business growth, and practice management services to improve efficiencies and transition to value- and outcome-based models. Novocardia can also help partner practices with the development of ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient cath labs.

“We’ve prioritized partnering with independent groups who we think are delivering high quality care, and have good clinical leadership,” Blumenthal told Gist.

The savings to the government and patients that could result from moving more coronary interventions out of hospitals and into ambulance surgery centers is significant, Olgin notes. Recently, Medicare estimated that moving just 5 percent of coronary intervention procedures from hospital outpatient department settings to ambulatory surgery centers would save Medicare $20 million, and beneficiaries $5 million in out of pocket costs.

“With those savings, it’s likely commercial payers will follow Medicare’s lead and incentivize more and more cardiac procedures to be done in these outpatient settings,” she says.

Listen to the podcast