Economic forecast 2020: Health care

Company: Florida Skin Center has been providing dermatological services in Fort Myers since Dr. A. Aurora Badia founded it in July 2001, and it has since focused on organic growth. The company first expanded with a Cape Coral office in 2013, a Lehigh Acres location in 2016 and a Punta Gorda office in 2018. The original Fort Myers office campus is scheduled for additional growth in December, with the addition of a new medical provider and annex building to additional guest demand. With 51 employees, the company did $7.4 million in revenue in 2018. 

Opportunities: Gulisano, who joined the firm as CEO in early 2017, says the company was just recently named the largest provider of free skin checks in the nation by Neutrogena and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. “We launched a very successful program of providing free skin checks at all of our offices, whether you have insurance or not,” he says. “We did 1,800 free skin checks this year and 3,100 in the last two years.”

He says the business outlook for their company “looks very promising” as a result of a strong state economy, low unemployment rates and “tremendously high population growth.”

But another core reason he believes business will increase is Floridians will continue to have their skin exposed to the sun’s rays, which will unfortunately lead to more skin cancer cases —one of the fastest-growing cancers in the world.

“All of those things together — population growth and a strong economy — means that there’s going to be a big demand for dermatology services,” he says.

Threats: Gulisano doesn’t see many threats on the horizon for the dermatology industry. The health care sector, however, might experience a huge change depending on who is elected the next president of the U.S. Looming large there: the possibility of a Medicare for All plan. Gulisano believes the current system, which allows for competition, is healthy, while a government-run approach could send shock waves throughout health-related industries and businesses.