SummaryAnesthesia groups are increasingly pulled in different directions. Whether contracted or not to do so, group providers are often asked to address patient needs that occur outside of the operating room suite. As most of these services are unplanned, it can add difficulty to the group's ability to optimize and measure utilization.Anesthesia se...

SummaryUnited Healthcare has announced a new policy intended to direct a long list of procedures to qualified surgical centers. This may be a positive development for anesthesia practices, even though it may reduce hospital volume.The cost of healthcare is slowly overshadowing other considerations in American medicine. Physicians tend to focus thei...

SummaryMost anesthesia practices accept the need to provide key surgeons two 'flip' rooms so they can be more efficient and productive; but how does this requirement impact the anesthesia practice? Most do not really know but it is an important question.Traditionally, anesthesia staffing has involved the assignment of a provider—either a physician ...

SummaryAnesthesia groups are increasingly providing services outside of standard anesthetizing locations. They need to do more to properly track these services so that they can have a more accurate assessment of their manpower needs and overall financial standing.In the evaluation of coverage and staffing requirements, the primary focus is always t...

Conventional wisdom holds that the better-paying cases are migrating from the traditional inpatient setting to outpatient venues. This explains why today's larger practices are so focused on growing their surgicenter business. They view it as a matter of financial survival. Many surgeons will bring their older, sicker Medicare patients to the hospi...