The shortage of anesthesia providers has plagued healthcare across the country, driven by ongoing issues on the supply and demand ends of the spectrum.
As a result, many healthcare facilities — particularly in rural communities — have turned to clinical staffing models that rely more heavily on certified nurse anesthetists for their anesthesia coverage.
However, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will reduce QZ services performed by CRNAs to 85% of the physician fee schedule starting Nov. 1.
This sparked criticism from the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, which specifically mentioned the effect of this new policy on rural communities.
"We believe Anthem's new anesthesia reimbursement policies are in violation of existing federal laws regarding provider nondiscrimination in commercial health plans, encourage higher-cost healthcare delivery without improving quality, and may impair access to care," the organization said in an Aug. 6 news release. "AANA urges that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield rescind these policies and promote access to CRNA anesthesia services."
Anthem removed diagnosis codes not eligible for reimbursement when reported with add-on code 99140 code list, along with other changes.
CRNAs represent more than 80% of rural anesthesia providers, administering more than 50 million anesthetics annually to patients in the U.S. It is estimated that 30,200 new advanced practice registered nurses will need to be enrolled in master's and doctoral programs each year through 2031 to meet the increasing need.