Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1156517
10 ASC MANAGEMENT How OptumCare aims to become a $100B business in the next 10 years By Laura Dyrda U nitedHealth Group plans to grow OptumCare, which includes Surgical Care Affiliates, from a $16 billion business into a $100 billion business, ac- cording to the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Optum Health is already a $100 billion business, but the company sees significant growth for its OptumCare divi- sion in the future. UnitedHealth CFO John Rex detailed the company's plan at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference. Four things to know: 1. Mr. Rex envisions OptumCare hitting $100 billion in revenue by 2028 by serving more patients with Medicare Advantage plans, as well as other elderly patients. The company currently reports $19 in revenue per customer per month, but Medicare Advantage members at full risk could amount to $900 to $1,000 of revenue per month, according to Mr. Rex. 2. OptumCare plans to purchase more surgery centers, primary care and urgent care practices. The additional ASCs would become part of Surgical Care Affiliates, which OptumCare acquired in 2017 for $2.3 billion. 3. UnitedHealth acquired DaVita's medical group in a $4 billion deal this June. The final sale added around 300 clin- ics and around six surgery centers. 4. The company aims to grow geographically with more outpatient services centers and medical groups, but it will intentionally shy away from the inpatient setting. United- Health's CEO David Wichmann said explicitly that Optum- Care doesn't plan to purchase hospitals or post-acute care settings, but it may align with health systems. n Where US physicians earned the most in 2018 By Rachel Popa T otal compensation among providers has risen at a rate of 7 percent to 11 percent in the last five years, according to a report from the Medical Group Management Association. The association's report includes data from 147,000 physicians and providers from more than 5,500 organiza- tions. Three key report details: 1. Physicians in the Midwest and Southern regions of the U.S. reported the highest compensation in 2018. The region with the lowest physician compensation rates was the Eastern part of the U.S. 2. Guaranteed compensation for newly hired urologists, cardiologists and emergency medicine physicians grew between 2017 and 2018: • Urologist compensation grew from $312,500 to $375,000 • Cardiologist compensation grew from $400,000 to $485,000 • Emergency medicine physician compensation grew from $207,360 to $291,194 3. The specialties that experienced the greatest increases in compensation between 2017 and 2018 included neu- rology and neurosurgery, general OB-GYN, noninvasive cardiology and diagnostic radiology. n USPI sells 2 ASCs, reports revenue per case up 3% in Q1 By Laura Dyrda D allas-based Tenet reported its ambu- latory care segment revenue dropped 3.6 percent in the first quarter year over year, largely due to the sale of Aspen Healthcare in 2018. During the first quarter, Tenet's ASC busi- ness, Addison, Texas-based United Surgical Partners International, sold two facilities and merged two locations into one, which contributed to a dip in consolidated revenue for the quarter. "When we think about the portfolio optimi- zation for the company, that is a normal part of our process," said Brett Brodnax, president and CEO of USPI, during the first quarter conference call, as transcribed by Seeking Al- pha. "We sell facilities from time to time that we don't view as strategic to the company. We also merge facilities where we think we can capture synergies. And that's exactly what happened in this situation." In 2018, Tenet invested $240 million in the ambulatory space and added 27 facilities. Mr. Brodnax said the company's pipeline is still very strong. "We expect the latter quarters of the year to be very fruitful from an M&A perspective," he said. e company also reported 3 percent in- crease in revenue per case and higher case volume. e results were driven partially by patients with high deductible health plans. In some cases, patients that didn't meet their de- ductibles in 2018 may opt to undergo surgery in the first quarter and then spend the rest of the year with their deductible met. "As we alluded to in Q4 of last year, what we're seeing is the consumer being a little bit more rational as to how they deal with our high-deductible health plan," said Mr. Brod- nax. "We saw that as a nice tailwind in Q1. We're not expecting that to continue through the remaining part of the year, but it certainly helped us for this quarter." n