There is a simple question worth sitting with for a moment if you have few minutes.
If your cataract volume increases 20 to 30 percent over the next three to four years, can your program handle it without breaking something else?
Staffing. Scheduling. Equipment access. Turnover time between cases. These are the systems that tend to crack first when volume climbs faster than infrastructure.
And the volume is coming.
Cataract Volume is Projected to Grow Considerably.
Cataract surgery in the United States has grown from roughly 3.1 million procedures in 2006 to an estimated 4.2 million in 2024, with projections reaching approximately 6 million annually by 2030. That is not a gradual drift. That is a significant structural shift in surgical demand, and it is being driven by something that does not reverse: an aging population. Source1: theworlddata.com
More than 25 million Americans are currently affected by cataracts, with that number projected to rise to 38.5 million by 2032. The prevalence of cataracts increases sharply with age, and in the United States, prevalence rises to 50% among adults over 75. Source 2: Contactlensesplus Source 3: 360researchreports
All 75 million baby boomers will have reached Medicare eligibility by 2030. The math is not complicated. The patients are already there. They are simply moving through the age brackets that bring them to your door.
You can read more about the demographic backdrop here: Source 4: Cataract Statistics Worldwide 2026, Eye Health Central
The Surgeon Supply Problem Makes It Harder
More patients would be easier to manage if the surgeon workforce were growing at the same pace. It is not.
Approximately 550 ophthalmologists are retiring every year, many of them baby boomers themselves. Meanwhile, the senior population is growing at roughly 3 percent per year, and seniors use about ten times as much ophthalmic care as younger patients. The result is an estimated 5 percent annual increase in demand for care, against a surgeon supply that is, at best, holding even. Source 5: Review of Ophthalmology
Workforce projections indicate a net decrease in ophthalmologist supply of 126 per year from 2025 to 2035, and by 2038, the current shortage could more than triple, dropping workforce adequacy to approximately 72 percent. Source 6: Reviewob
What that means practically: the surgeons you already have access to are going to be busier. They will need to move efficiently. They will need reliable equipment and support every time they step into your OR.
For additional context on the workforce gap, this piece from Ophthalmology Times is worth reading: Source 7: Inadequate Number of Ophthalmologic Clinicians Predicted by 2035
The ASC Is Becoming the Center of Gravity
On top of the volume and workforce dynamics, care itself is shifting. Outpatient procedures now represent 91 percent of total cataract surgeries performed in the United States. ASCs are absorbing the bulk of that growth. Source 8: 360researchreports
The ASC industry generated $45 billion in revenues in 2024 and is projected to grow to $57 billion by 2030. CMS continues to push procedures out of inpatient settings and into ambulatory ones, and cataract extraction is already among the top projected growth procedures in the ASC Medicare reimbursement landscape for 2026, with volume expected to increase by 4 percent year over year. Source 9: CLA Connect Source 10: Regent Surgical
That is the environment your facility is operating in right now.
For a broader look at ASC trends this year: Source 11: Top Ambulatory Surgery Center Trends for 2026, ASC News
The Real Question for Your Program
Most facilities are not under-motivated. They want to grow their cataract volume. They want to serve more patients. The barrier is rarely intention.
The barrier is usually infrastructure. Equipment that was purchased for a lower volume is now being stretched. Staff who manage supplies and setup are already stretched thin. Scheduling a higher case load requires more room, more resources, and more consistency from the equipment side than many programs are currently built for.
Buying a second phaco system to handle additional volume is a significant capital commitment. Training staff on a new platform takes time. Maintaining, servicing, and eventually replacing that equipment adds an ongoing cost structure that shows up on your balance sheet year after year.
There is a different way to approach it.
Where Surgical Direct Fits
Surgical Direct was built specifically for this scenario. We bring the equipment, the supplies, and an experienced on-site coordinator to your OR for every case. No capital purchase. No equipment maintenance contracts. No training burden when staff turns over.
When your volume grows, we scale with you. When a surgeon prefers a specific phaco platform, we can accommodate that without requiring your facility to own multiple systems. When you want to add a second OR day or expand to a satellite location, the infrastructure comes with us.
You do not have to own the equipment to offer it.
If your program is thinking about how to absorb the next few years of growth without overextending your budget or your staff, we would be glad to talk through what that looks like in practice.
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