As the shortage of anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthesiologists continues to grow, the average cost of hiring an anesthesiologist has risen 20% to 40% since 2022.
Requests for anesthesia stipends have surged by 400%, placing a high financial burden on healthcare institutions, according to a Nov. 15 news release from Surgical Directions, a workforce solutions company.
More than 2,872 anesthesiologists left the workforce from 2021 to 2022, with a predicted shortage of 12,500 anesthesiologists by 2033.
"I am watching the anesthesia issue closely. Years ago, we profited a small amount. Now, we are being asked to pay for the privilege of having anesthesiologists at our ASC," Thomas Barnett, MD, a surgeon at Surgical Associates, PA in Dover, Del., told Becker's.
Jason Klopotowski, MD, lead physician managing director at Surgical Directions, shared three ways to combat anesthesia professional shortages in the press release.
1. Mitigate downtime in the daily operating room schedule. Evaluate your allocation of block scheduling to surgeons based on actual utilization rather than seniority. By doing so, hospitals can reduce staff overtime and increase OR efficiency.
2. Dedicate a portion of the OR to accommodate unplanned and emergency surgeries to reduce overtime costs and improve patient workflow.
3. Streamline non-OR anesthesia locations to coordinate with the main OR schedule and avoid spikes in demand.