One of Robert Frost's most popular poems is The Road Not Taken. It is about two paths that diverge in the woods. It is a wonderful and powerful metaphor for the decisions we make in life. By selecting one option we inevitably forgo another. More often than not this results in endless speculation as to whether it was the right choice. And so it is w...

An anesthesiologist filed a $9 million whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer in July alleging he had been fired for voicing concerns about hospital policies and procedures that required anesthesiologists to cut corners on patient safety. We have no opinion on the merits of the lawsuit, nor any inform...

Given the heightened level of interest in acquisitions of independent anesthesiology groups, physician shareholders are being confronted with a myriad of questions. Many are finding that anesthesiology groups in the local region are being acquired by larger medical groups. What should their practice do? What would be the value of their practice if ...

The clinician community—anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists included—breathed at least a partial sigh of relief last week. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that clinicians would not suffer financial penalties in 2019 based on their performance in 2017 under the new Quality Payment Program (QPP) that implements the...

Effective anesthesiology group governance is no longer a luxury but instead an important survival skill. Why?

• The external environment is threatening— changes in reimbursement, threats from competitors, hospital consolidation—all add up to the need to make decisions, change and adapt.
• The internal dynamics of many groups are challenging—getting “the entire herd roughly moving west,” dealing with disruptive physicians, developing an agreed upon group strategy—all require a well organized governance system.

Whether your group’s Board includes all the shareholder physicians, or you have chosen a subset of the shareholders to serve as the Board, there are a number of steps that you can take to strengthen your Board’s performance. Here are several of the most important steps that an anesthesiology group Board can take.