Lucid Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ:LUCD) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Dr. Lishan Aklog: So we had 40, which is what we had said we would target in our strategic update call in January that reflects some layoffs and some backfilling, but we have — where we settled in a 40 sales personnel, as well as the clinical support team, the nurse practitioners and clinical specialists. We’ve added a couple of that to make sure we have sufficient coverage there. And the plan right now is to maintain that flat through the year and to allow this team to continue to drive the type of test growth volume that I just talked about with Kyle. Certainly, there will be opportunities to dial that up if the reimbursement side accelerates more quickly than we’re prepared to keep that flat or down.

Ross Osborn: Okay. Great. And then I realize the focus is now on satellite testing at least for the near-term, but could you discuss your geographic presence relative to your original stage geographic rollout? And then as a follow-up, what can you do to accelerate satellite testing activity?

Dr. Lishan Aklog: Yeah. I just want to kind of maybe restate just to make sure there’s no misunderstanding here that there isn’t — we’re not shifting or we’re not pausing the physical test center model, it still remains our anchor. That’s where our nurse practitioners are physically based, but they have the opportunity to move and do tests in a broader geographic area. The — there is really good sales coverage right now and our sales team coverage is broader than the 11 states and the 13 test centers that with physical locations that we currently have. And so there are opportunities, for example, in Georgia, and other states where we don’t have physical test centers where there is increasing activity that we could support using nurse practitioners using the satellite test center model.

So we’re not — certainly, we’re not — with 40 reps, we’re not covering the entire — every single state or every single metropolitan area, but the geographic coverage is broader and it certainly covers the major states, particularly, California, Texas and Florida, Ohio, those are big location — remain big location for us.

Ross Osborn: Okay. Great. Thanks for taking our questions.

Dr. Lishan Aklog: Okay. Thanks, Ross.

Operator: And our next question comes from Mike Matson of Needham & Co. Your line is open.

Dr. Lishan Aklog: Good morning, Mike.

Dennis McGrath: Hi, Mike.

Mike Matson: Yeah. Good morning. Just a question on — so the CYFT event, you said you did like 391 tests there. Is that included in the test number and do you expect to get paid for those tests?

Dr. Lishan Aklog: That’s an interesting question. So, yes, they are included in those numbers and there — we are — these are commercial patients that have commercial insurance and so they’re not applying a research project or anything like that. So we do to them in the commercial numbers. We don’t know yet. It’s an interesting dynamic, because generally, for example, typically with a firefighter group, the Firefighter Union is often an ASM, so they have their own decision-making opportunities. So you might expect that our ability to engage with them directly. That’s why I was saying that the CYFT events are tightly linked to our Direct Contracting Initiative, right, because we’re dealing with typically organizing these on the logistical side, dealing with the firefighter team and the unions in particular.