Anesthesia groups are often called to provide services to an intensive care unit, Tony Mira, Anesthesia Business Consultants' president and CEO, wrote in a recent blog post.
While providing services in the ICU can enhance the anesthesia groups' profitability, there are three key nuances to consider:
1. Anesthesia services in hospitals are typically delivered on a specialty-specific basis, with ICU care training conducted as a different discipline. The difficulty with the lack of interdisciplinary training is that with increasing market consolidation, hospitals are looking for a "consolidated team of providers," according to Mr. Mira.
2. Additionally, hospitals are "very political environments in which specialty turf wars play out with serious intensity." With fee-for-service medicine models, hospitals typically dedicate significant resources to ensure the loyalty of orthopedic and cardiology practices, and those relationships are prioritized.
3. Getting paid for ICU services is difficult for anesthesia groups. The specific care codes are specifically defined and can be confusing, Mr. Mira said. Additionally, the HHS Office of Inspector General placed critical care services on its target list of policy areas the office will be scrutinizing more closely in the next year.