Navigating the Future of Cardiology: 4 Challenges Independent Cardiologists Face

It’s no secret that independent physicians — especially independent cardiologists — face unique challenges in the healthcare landscape. In the past decade, these challenges have been exacerbated by the increase in hospital and health system-employed cardiologists at the expense of private practices.

For many hospitals and health systems, employed physicians are preferable because they eliminate negotiations over coverage, while reducing administrative burdens and compliance concerns. The fact of the matter is, most independently-owned practices just don’t have the resources to navigate the administrative workloads, financial pressures, and regulatory compliance concerns that larger health systems can.

So, how can independent cardiologists afford to stay independent in these conditions? In this article, we’ll explore some of the largest challenges facing independent cardiologists today and examine the one model that may offer a solution private practices need: value-based care.

Challenges Facing Independent Cardiologists in 2024

1. Financial Pressures

In a 2023 survey from Tebra, 68% of independent physicians cited low reimbursement rates as the number one threat to staying independent. This doesn’t include the physicians that cited low margins (50%), overhead (49%), and rising healthcare costs (46%) as their main threats.

In short, independent practices are facing severe and increasing financial pressures, and the fee-for-service reimbursement model is no longer working in light of decreasing margins and rising costs.

If independent cardiologists want to optimize their practice finances, VBC contracts can offer additional revenue opportunities, providing financial rewards to providers who meet certain quality standards and deliver better outcomes.

And with Chamber’s contracting support, it’s easier than ever to take advantage of VBC opportunities, without the financial risks or additional work for your back office team.

In addition to helping cardiologists manage their patient panels more comprehensively, Chamber works with payers to ensure our partner cardiology practices are compensated appropriately for delivering care at the right time. Cardiologists maintain their existing fee-for-service contracts with payers, while gaining additional value-based payments.

2. Administrative Burdens

In order to experience the revenue benefits of value-based care, cardiologists also need the administrative and back office support to execute on those VBC contracts at a high level. This is a significant barrier for many independent practices who might otherwise benefit from a VBC model.

Some private practices find their administrative workload so overwhelming that they have no choice but to sell to a hospital.

But private practices don’t have to function this way. Chamber’s tech-enabled platform for cardiologists makes the administrative work of VBC much more manageable, with streamlined reporting, bundled payments, and evidence-based guidelines.

3. Difficulties Measuring Success

If administrative and financial burdens weren’t enough of a strain on time and resources, independent cardiologists often also struggle to understand how they’re performing at any given time, or to identify changes that will improve patient outcomes and better manage chronic conditions. Most independent cardiologists just don’t have the staff to keep up with tracking these metrics.

This is another area where Chamber’s tech-enabled solution can support independent cardiologists, providing clear, trackable quality measures so cardiologists can always understand how they’re performing and where they can focus on improving.

In doing so, Chamber also helps reduce the incidence of adverse events and hospital readmissions through preventive care and chronic disease management.  

4. Practice Valuation

According to the Terba survey, 54% of practice owners stated they knew a practice owner who had sold their practice to a larger healthcare provider, and 39% knew a practice owner who had sold their practice to another partner or independent practice.

The problem is, selling a private practice comes with a whole host of challenges: finding the right buyer, ethically transitioning patients, and handling the burden of financial and legal responsibilities. To top it off, if your practice isn’t operating under a VBC model, your valuation won’t be as high as it could be.

If you’re ever interested in selling your practice in the future, buyers will want to see that your practice is organized and future-oriented. Chamber steps in to help your practice get those value-based contracts without the hassle of negotiating with payers and taking unnecessary risks.

Why Value-Based Care is the Future of Independent Cardiology

CMS strongly urges all healthcare systems to move to VBC because of its potential to “make the health system, and primary care in particular, more resilient.” The hard truth is this: if your practice isn’t operating under a value-based care model, it’s not as optimized as it could be.

When the quality of care is prioritized over the quantity of care, independent cardiologists can alleviate administrative and financial burdens by focusing on improving the services they can provide. And, in turn, regulatory compliance becomes much easier to maintain.

At Chamber, we equip cardiologists with the tools and technology they need to smoothly transition to value-based care. We’ll be your bridge to stakeholders, gain your practice access to larger networks, and help keep your patients out of hospitals.

To find out more about how Chamber Cardio is helping independent cardiologists make the switch to VBC, book a call here.