Healing is an art
Medicine is a science
Healthcare is a business
At the time, most anesthesia providers were more focused on the first two of the above elements and scratched their head about the third. Those were the good old days. Most providers earned a good living and their goal was to keep the surgeons happy. Current reality has evolved dramatically; the order of today’s priorities has changed. The most critical and challenging priority of medicine today is economics. The greatest challenge facing most anesthesia practices in the current environment is generating enough revenue to recruit and retain an appropriate team of qualified providers to meet and anticipate the dynamic needs of today’s surgeons and facilities.
Anesthesia is a Business
The irony of anesthesia is that, for years, it was a free commodity to hospital administrators. Early service agreements defined coverage requirements and standards of care, but there was usually no financial component. This is what has changed the most over the past 20 years. As provider compensation has increased, and as the service requirements of facilities have increased, and as revenue opportunities have become increasingly constrained as a result of increasing Medicare and Medicaid populations, the focus of practice administrators has been redefined. In fact, an aspect of practice management that used to be more or less taken for granted has now become a major focus and concern. Maximizing the revenue potential of the practice while minimizing the cost of providing the services has become a make or break for too many practices. An increasing number of practices across the country have either sold out or become hospital employees because the financial challenges were unmanageable.
It used to be the norm that anesthesia groups met with administration infrequently and only when they needed to renegotiate their contract, which typically focused on renegotiating the subsidy the facility needed to pay. Now, the cost of anesthesia care is a major focus of hospital administrators who are becoming increasingly annoyed at how much they have to pay. The results of this frustration are starting to significantly impact the quality of care provided. There are rumors that some facilities are so stretched that they no longer allow elective surgery.
It used to be that young providers picked a practice in a location where they wanted to settle down and raise a family. Increasingly, we are hearing such terms as “starter practice,” which is indicative of more mobility in practice. Providers will only stay at a given practice as long as it meets their professional and financial goals.
Anesthesia is a Science
The good news is that anesthesia is a very dynamic specialty. Today’s pharmacology has taken the specialty into a wide variety of new domains. As the specialty that makes today’s surgery comfortable and safe, anesthesia has carved out quite a niche for itself. It has often been said that two domains have brought about most of the advances in modern medicine: antibiotics and anesthesia. The fact is that the anesthesia provider is more responsible for the patient’s overall surgical experience than the surgeon.
What makes great anesthesia practices successful is their ability to stay current with the state of clinical practice. The American Society of Anesthesiologists and its educational programs have been instrumental in establishing American anesthesia care as the world standard. Today’s anesthesia practices must focus increasingly on enhancing their standard of care to remain competitive.
Anesthesia is Both Art and Science
Is used to be said that anesthesia was a good specialty for providers with limited communication skills but this is no longer true. The role of every provider is to make their patients feel comfortable about the anesthesia experience. They must be able to communicate.
The success of all medical facilities and practices hinges on customer service. As the providers who manage the patients through the entire surgical continuum, this has become an increasingly critical aspect of anesthesia care. Facilities rely on their anesthesia departments to embody the highest standards of customer service. This has become a critical role for the specialty.