Our Pacific Valley Medical Group (PVMG) in Pasadena, California consists of 29 partners. We’re an independent, single specialty group primarily serving Huntington Memorial Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children, Los Angeles. We love our practice, our hospitals and our community, and as a group we think we do a great job. As is true for most anesthesia practices, the delivery of our standard, elective anesthetic involves meeting a patient three minutes ahead of time, delivering anesthesia in the OR, landing that person in recovery and moving on to the next; “wash, rinse and repeat.” We delegate pre-operative management and post-discharge care to others. But many of us are now asking “Is this the best we can do? Is this our best effort?” Many think not. Patients, payers, administrators and our partner surgeons are beginning to expect more from our practice in this pending era of ‘pay for performance.’ The healthcare funding...

Post-acute care services are a major driver of spending, particularly for the Medicare population.  Nationwide, one in seven surgical patients is readmitted within 30 days, stated Michael Schweitzer, MD, MBA, who chairs ASA’s Future Models of Anesthesia Practice task force and who gave a very thought-provoking talk on “The Future of Anesthesia Practice” at the MGMA Anesthesia Conference in Chicago on May 1, 2015. Such readmissions are difficult for patients—and they are costly.  In 2009, the average cost of a total hip replacement readmission was $12,300, with an 8.2 percent readmission rate.  (Rizzo E. 6 Stats of the Cost of Readmission for CMS-Tracked Conditions.  Becker’s Hospital Review, December 12, 2013.)  Dr. Schweitzer cited a study published in Health Affairs in 2012 showing that surgical complications could increase the costs of care up to $58,000 per case. One out of every six Medicare fee-for-service program dollars goes to care provided in rehabilitation...

“Cloud Computing” is a phrase we hear thrown about constantly in the technology industry these days. To the casual observer, it can be synonymous with the internet or perhaps used to identify a specific program available over the web. Large organizations such as hospitals typically understand the nuance that exists when discussing and integrating cloud computing concepts, but since many anesthesia practices must double as their own internal IT departments, confusion may arise as to what cloud computing is and how it affects your business.Many tout the cloud as the next evolutionary step to the traditional software and support models but fail to evaluate the true benefits and costs. As this software and platform model continues to mature, we must ask, “How will cloud computing affect my practice and how can I benefit?”WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?This seems to be an ever evolving answer. While many industry experts expected to have a...