The anesthesia industry faced certain obstacles and industry-changing events in 2024, from provider shortages to reimbursement challenges and emerging technology.
Here are five notes for anesthesia groups and providers looking to stay ahead of the curve in 2025:
1. Expand pain management services to add value. Vijay Sudheendra, MD, president of Narragansett Bay Anesthesia in Providence, R.I., recently told Becker's that because anesthesiologists rarely bring cases to a hospital or an ASC, anesthesia groups must expand their vision to create a "perioperative surgical home" for patients.
"That means you really have to be adding value in places beyond the operating room," he said. "We are looking at patients hitting the emergency room — how do we make sure that these patients are pain free beyond three to four post-operative days?"
He also noted that as increasingly high-acuity procedures continue to move to the outpatient setting, particularly in surgical specialties like orthopedics, his anesthesia group is focusing on improving post-operative care and pain management for patients 30 to 90 days post-operation.
2. Leverage emerging technologies. One tool that Dr. Sudheendra and his team use to optimize their care services is cryoanalgesia. His practice is currently conducting a study to determine whether cryanalgesia will allow patients to return to full daily living earlier than those who receive other types of pain management. Staying on top of developing technologies and treatments, including the emergence of AI in anesthesia, will be essential in keeping anesthesia practices ahead of the curve in the coming years.
"Advancing IT integration, supported by machine learning and other AI technology, is going to fundamentally change how we manage patients minute-to-minute in the operating room," Richard Dutton, MD, an anesthesiologist and chief quality officer for U.S. Anesthesia Partners, told Becker's in early 2024. "This will free our hands and minds to advance care in other ways for the benefit of our patients, including even more hands-on support of sicker patients, as well as novel procedures."
3. Focus on recruitment. To successfully expand service lines and build sustainable practices, anesthesia groups must recruit providers who are multifaceted and dedicated to developing practices into the future.
"We are also investing in leaders in anesthesia who actually can work, not only in the operating room, but also in the C-suite, with the administrators, surgeons and cardiologists, to build this perioperative surgical home," Dr. Sudheendra said.
Anesthesia practices must also adapt to meet the employment needs of a younger cohort of anesthesia providers, such as better work-life balance and more flexible scheduling.
"The group is investing in leaders of the future," he said. "When I say 'investing,' that means we are compensating them above the market value of these anesthesiologists, so that they then add value to the group."
4. Prioritize communication in hospital and ASC relationships. Jennifer Danner, the senior director of Orlando (Fla.) Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute, told Becker's that she holds monthly forecasting meetings and daily safety huddles. This creates a space for all members of the surgical team to meet and iron out any last-minute issues or scheduling conflicts to ensure smooth optimization of operating time.
"That is key: clear communications with your surgeons," she said. "This is what you're looking at tomorrow, and never [allow] them to walk in the door and be surprised. Those are the things that really make the difference in getting your surgeons to change the way you need them to change and to get anesthesia aligned with you."
5. Consider new approaches to scheduling. Gary Haynes, MD, PhD, chair of anesthesiology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, has adopted flexible call schedules across multiple hospitals.
"We've played with our call schedules and gone to — instead of one night on call the next day off — we'd go into a night float system for a week at a time, which helped mitigate our current situation," he said at Becker's 30th Annual Business and Operations of ASCs Meeting in Chicago. "We talk a lot about physician wellness and I think it's easier for physicians to be on call and do it a week at a time, giving them more free time during the day and then a week off afterwards for mental and physical reasons."