And they look — they’re looking to us to develop their outpatient strategy and adoption of artificial intelligence to be implemented for the screening tools that we have throughout their system and in Southern California. So I think we have to look beyond just what the immediate assets were that were contributed and look at the fact that price contribution from Cedars will be far beyond what we are currently doing today.
Larry Solow: Got you. I appreciate all that color. And if I could just slip one more in, just on pricing. It sounds like commercially, you guys maybe get a little momentum on your side. And I know it’s not a foot of a switch, you got, I guess, go to each payer and negotiate pricing and new contracts, but it sounds like that’s building. And then I guess that’s part A. And then part B, does the physician fee, the schedule on the rotation or rebalancing towards primary care? Is that — are we supposed to be, I think, 2025, that’s supposed to be kind of done? Is there any kind of I know it’s the government, you never know what’s going to happen there. But is that kind of maybe we have one more after 24 one more year of up? Thanks.
Howard Berger : When you said the government, we don’t exactly know what the are you talking just about health care or in general, because I think…
Larry Solow: I’m talking — yes. Not a different discussion, but yes. I mean the CMS. Yes, yes. I mean, CMS, yes.
Howard Berger : Yes. I was being a little facetious, I apologize
Larry Solow: Of course. No, I get it.
Howard Berger : Yes. I think, Mark, you can embellish on this, but I think if they’re true to their word, 2024, maybe the last year. However, if they do some mitigation.
Mark Stolper : Correct. It may go into 2025.
Howard Berger : 2025. This is a question of, do you want to take the medicine all in one golf or divide it up into two spoon pools. But either way, we’re going to get hit with it. And yes, we’d like to see it push down the road, but which the government is famous for. But I’m not certain that, that’s going to be the case this year given all the other issues and dysfunctionality that currently exist in Washington. As far as the other part I think what’s important to emphasize here is the consolidation that we have assiduously followed here over really decades now, finally has allowed us to have a seat at the table in terms of negotiating pricing for the with our payers. And for years, we have essentially been like almost every other physician provider, we have been a price taker, not a price maker.
And it’s easy for a lot of these payers just to say this is what we’re going to pay, take it or leave it. And I think we have evolved in every one of our markets where we’re willing to say, leave it if you don’t recognize and reimburse us at sustainable rates that allow us to continue, not to make profitability, but to provide the level and quality of service, which we have become known for throughout the industry and which ultimately benefits them and to the extent that they care, their members. So I believe the discussions that we’re having is one that we’ve been doing through the years, but the tenor is different today, given that the demand is so substantial that the leave-it scenario is one that we’re willing to adopt. I don’t want to call it the nuclear option, but there needs to be more of a conversation and not just take a leave it attitude.
And hopefully, RadNet will be able to demonstrate to the radiology community and for that matter to the health care community, the importance of fair and reasonable reimbursement rates.
Larry Solow: Great Thanks, Howard. Appreciate all that color.
Howard Berger: Thank you, Larry
Operator: Our next question comes from Jim Sidoti with Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.
Q – Jim Sidoti: Hi, good morning and thanks for taking the call. A couple of quick ones. Sounds like you added a handful of centers in the quarter with this new joint venture or expanded joint venture. How many total centers do you have right now?
Howard Berger: 366.
Q – Jim Sidoti: Okay. And then, Howard, I think you made some comments about a little debt pay down in the quarter, but you did raise $250 million or so of cash, and it doesn’t seem like you’ve made any big payments to date. Is there more debt paid down coming in the fourth quarter? Or are you saving that for acquisitions?
Howard Berger: Well, I think we made a $30 million payment, as I mentioned, at the end of October. We could make more, but I think based on some of the opportunities that we see face –not facing us, but opportunities that we have that we’re pursuing in 2024, we’ve decided to keep some of our cash on the balance sheet and determine perhaps later in the fourth quarter or perhaps even by the end of this year whether or not we would want to pay down more of that debt. So I think we’re just being — like we have been prudent in our case of cash here. I wouldn’t rule out paying down more of that debt. I also wouldn’t rule out the use of it to expand the company’s footprint not only in our existing markets, but perhaps in other markets.
So I think I’m sure if we elect to pay down more that our lenders would be more than happy to receive the money. So I don’t think we’ll get any resistance if we choose to do more later. But I think also our lenders as well as our shareholders want us to put the capital to work if it can be more helpful in growing the company and improving our overall performance.
Q – Jim Sidoti: All right. Thank you.
Howard Berger: Thank you, Jim.
Operator: Our next question comes from Yuan Zhi with B. Riley. Please go ahead.
Q – Unidentified Analyst: This is Brandon [ph] calling in for Yuan. Congratulations on the progress in the quarter and thanks for hosting us at your flagship New York meeting center. Just one on us returning to the CMS question. I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about that from the patient access point of view And what kind of arguments like patient and physician advocacy groups will have going into Congress. And I think that you’ve already touched a little bit on your thoughts on their chances for success there, but maybe you can just reiterate that.
Howard Berger: Well, I liken the advocacy program to the old parable of a tree falls in the woods would anybody hear it. I think we’ve been to Washington met with numerous both House and Senate representatives or their age. And while we go through the process, I’m not sure ultimately if it has any impact. I think what CMS needs to do is really sit down and revalue primarily the technical component of what we deliver and take into consideration impacts like inflation, like salary increases, increasing cost of equipment and other things that they have not revalued probably for close to two decades. I think that the sustainability of what Medicare and CMS are doing is ultimately going to hurt the health care delivery system and put the Medicare population in jeopardy of not having the access that they need.
