Mark F.Weiss, JD The Mark F. Weiss Law Firm, Dallas, TX, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, CAAlthough the editor, bless her heart, steadfastly refused to let me have a sneak, pre-publication peek at the other articles that appear alongside this one, my educated guess is that each of them purports to give you answers.I know that's why you usually read ...

This week's eAlert continues with additional reviews of some of the more thought-provoking e-posters from the ASA's PRACTICE MANAGEMENT™ 2019. The posters summarized here, like all of the other posters at this meeting, are based on initiatives at one institution. As such, the findings will not necessarily apply to other practices. However, the idea...

Will Latham, MBA President, Latham Consulting Group, Inc., Chattanooga, TN There is a lot of talk in anesthesia and all of medicine and healthcare today about providing value.These discussions primarily focus on providing value to important constituents (such as a hospital) so that the anesthesia group can continue to work with the institution. But...

As a follow up to last week's eAlert, we review additional e-posters presented at the ASA's PRACTICE MANAGEMENT™ 2019. As mentioned last week, please bear in mind that each of these studies represent the experience of a single institution, and the same study at your own institution might well produce a different result. These summaries are offered ...

Kickbacks in healthcare are rarely (but not never) as blatant as an envelope of cash passed under the table. But they do exist in many forms and settings.When asked why he robbed banks, the notorious criminal Willie Sutton reputedly responded, "Because that's where the money is." Referring physicians, quite often but not always the owners of facili...

​We review a handful of e-posters presented at PRACTICE MANAGEMENT™ 2019 in Las Vegas on topics including the practice of "room flipping" by some surgeons, the addition of a full-time anesthesiologist to reduce same-day surgery cancellations in a preoperative care clinic, and strategies to address an increase in venous thromboembolism events.The AS...

Jody Locke, MA Vice President of Anesthesia and Pain Practice Management Services Anesthesia Business Consultants, LLC, Jackson, MI Uber has dramatically transformed the taxi business. We no longer talk of grabbing a cab; we "Uber" from point A to B. Airports now send us to ride-sharing pickup points where we see dozens of people staring at their p...

In the current competitive environment, long-term relationships between anesthesia groups and healthcare organizations are no longer the given they once were, and success for anesthesia practices hinges on their resilience and adaptability as market conditions and hospital requirements change. A cohesive, united group is more likely to weather the ...

​Although the majority of hospital-based ABC clients have implemented an electronic medical record, or plan to implement one in the near future, many of our ambulatory surgery center clients have been slower to move from paper to a digital platform. However, the transition is an inevitability for all practices. We review the essentials of a success...

Despite some potential pitfalls, health information technology can be used to improve anesthesia quality in a multitude of ways. In a follow-up to last week's eAlert, we provide additional examples from a presentation on the use of HIT in anesthesia at PRACTICE MANAGEMENT™ 2019.In last week's eAlert, we discussed some of the ways that health inform...

Will Latham, MBA President, Latham Consulting Group, Inc., Chattanooga, TN There is a lot of talk in anesthesia and all of medicine and healthcare today about providing value.These discussions primarily focus on providing value to important constituents (such as a hospital) so that the anesthesia group can continue to work with the institution. But...

Soaring drug prices and persistent drug shortages during 2015-2017, including those for important anesthesia drugs, led one-fourth of United States hospitals to reduce staff to cope with the financial pressure, according to a study commissioned by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) and the American S...

There is a lot of talk in anesthesia and all of medicine and healthcare today about providing value.These discussions primarily focus on providing value to important constituents (such as a hospital) so that the anesthesia group can continue to work with the institution. But anesthesia groups work with a variety of stakeholders, and each of these s...

Summary: Anesthesia practices interested in adding chronic pain management to their services should think carefully about the keys to long-term viability: clinicians who are fellowship trained; a market with a sufficient number of patients with conditions that would benefit from interventional care; in a crowded market, unique clinical offerings th...

Working Together to Raise Money to Provide 1,000 Coats!The MiraMed Family of Companies has created the MiraMed Circle of Warmth Campaign and partnered with an exceptional project called the Empowerment Plan, a Detroit-based nonprofit organization focused on permanently elevating families from the generational cycle of homelessness. The project hire...

"Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty. -Tim FerrisAnesthesia groups are facing great challenges in today's environment. I am sure you are aware of these various challenges so I won't belabor them.The question is: What do we do now?Some groups are throwing in the towel and selling out. It seems as though every few weeks another indep...

Summary: Social media can be a powerful tool to help you reach your professional goals, whatever they may be. We provide an overview of a presentation by Marjorie Stiegler, MD, on digital strategy for physicians at ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2018.In 2013, 350 people on Twitter generated 220,000 "impressions" related to the ASA scientific meeting using the eve...

Kathryn Hickner, Esq. Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz LLP, Cleveland, OH If you are anticipating buying or selling a practice during the coming months, you are not alone. The healthcare industry is experiencing a wave of integration. In fact, it has been occurring for several years. Many transactional healthcare attorneys have negotiated and closed d...

​Summary: The national anesthesia conversion factor for the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule final rule increased minimally to $22.27 from $22.19 in 2018. We review highlights of the 2019 rule with relevance for anesthesia providers, including changes to the Quality Payment Program for payment year 2021. Significant changes in documentation requirements...

Ah. The future. What's it have in store for your anesthesia practice and what must you do to prepare your group for it? Some think that the future will be a continuation of the present, or, even worse, a return to an idealized past. They're both wrong.But the present does hold clues as to what the future will bring, and based on them, I'll make som...