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Karin Bierstein, J.D., M.P.H. Joins Anesthesia Business Consultants

Anesthesia Business Consultants is pleased to announce that Karin Bierstein, JD, MPH has joined our team as Vice President for Strategic Planning and Practice Affairs. Ms. Bierstein comes to ABC from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, where she served for nearly 13 years, most recently as Associate Director of Professional Affairs. At ASA, her major responsibilities included advising anesthesiologists and administrators on practice management issues and developing the annual Practice Management conferences, representing the specialty before the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), making anesthesiology a player in the Pay-for-Performance world, and working closely with the Committee on Quality Management and Departmental Administration and its Hospital Consultation program. Using her expertise to provide consulting and planning services to ABC’s clients is the logical next step, Karin believes – and Tony Mira, ABC President and CEO, strongly agrees.

Karin originally came to the Washington, D.C. area to become the first Socioeconomic Affairs Coordinator for the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Between specialty organizations, she served as Washington Counsel for the American Medical Association.

Karin hastens to point out that her prior experience is not limited to nonprofit physician organizations. Upon graduating from Cornell Law School, she enjoyed taking care of private-sector clients as an associate in the labor department of a large New York City law firm and then moved to Los Angeles to engage in corporate litigation. She obtained her Master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health on her way to Washington.

Her base will continue to be the Northern Virginia suburbs while she travels frequently to ABC’s headquarters in Michigan and to ABC clients’ locations. The next home state for Karin, in a few years, will be Colorado. Beginning now, though, she will be happy to ski the celebrated powder and glades with any member of the ABC family whose vacations in Steamboat Springs coincide with her own.

If you don’t want to wait for snowfall to see Karin, you can attend her upcoming speaking engagements at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Francisco:

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS CONTRACT?

Sunday, October 14, 2007; 4:00PM – 4:50PM Moscone Center West; San Francisco, CA

Objectives: Attendees will learn to identify and negotiate certain disadvantageous terms appearing in hospital contracts. Using examples of clauses in recent contracts between anesthesiologists and hospitals, this course will analyze a number of common onerous provisions and suggest negotiation strategies and potential counter-offers. A financial modeling tool to support stipend requests will be presented.

THE ASA CONSULTATION PROGRAM: COULD IT BE JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR NEEDS TO ORDER?

Panel presentation with William H. Montgomery, M.D.; Walter G. Maurer, M.D.; and James S. Hicks, M.D.

Saturday, October 13, 2007; 1:30PM – 3:30PM Moscone Center South; San Francisco, CA

Having served as counsel to the hospital consultation program for 12 years, Karin will elaborate on the topic “You Knew There Would Be Legal Issues, Didn’t You?”

SEPARATE WRITTEN INFORMED CONSENT IS NECESSARY FOR ANESTHESIOLOGISTS

Point-counterpoint presentation with Timothy B. McDonald, M.D., J.D. (Karen B. Domino, M.D., M.P.H. moderating),

Wednesday, October 17, 2007; 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Moscone Center West; San Francisco, CA

Objectives: The point-counterpoint panel will review pros and cons of a separate written consent for anesthesiologists compared to using the written surgical consent and performing a verbal informed consent for anesthesia care. After attending this panel, participants will: 1) Understand the essential elements of appropriate informed consent for anesthesia care; 2) Pros and cons of using a separate written informed consent for anesthesia care.

Karin is very enthusiastic about joining ABC and states: “I am proud to be part of a team that includes so many first-rate professionals in the fields of anesthesia and pain medicine practice management, financial services, compliance, and planning for growth. ABC has the resources and the lengthy national experience in anesthesia business operations to justify my confidence that together we can do everything possible to ensure our clients’ success.”