The most authoritative information on managed care (commercial) contract rates for anesthesia services has just been updated.  The ASA Survey Results for Commercial Fees Paid for Anesthesia Services -2013 appears in the October issue of the ASA Newsletter. The national average managed care contractual conversion factor (CF) was $71.69, based on valid responses from 223 practices in 44 states and Washington, D.C.  This represents a 5.52% difference over the comparable figure for 2012, $67.94. Because of the way the survey responses are leveraged and the data reported, however, we caution against assuming that contract increases have averaged more than five percent.  The “national average managed care contractual CF” is an average of averages.  The survey requests CFs for five of each group’s largest managed care contracts, along with the percentage of their commercially-insured patient population that each contract represents.  This permits ASA to report means and percentiles for the contracts representing...