Some hospital administrators are using the pandemic as a reason to employ anesthesia providers instead of contracting with them, according to Anesthesia Business Consultants President and CEO Tony Mira.
Mr. Mira shared three thoughts on the employment model:
1. Private anesthesia practices are shuttering as their members increasingly opt for hospital employment. That was the fate of Anesthesia Associates of Massachusetts, a Boston-based megagroup that is now defunct.
2. Hospital administrators may be surprised to find that hiring and managing anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists tends to drive up costs, rather than reducing them.
3. The employment option gives more control to hospital administrators, whose interests often conflict with those of anesthesia providers, Mr. Mira said. Anesthesia providers focus on what happens in the operating room and want to know whether they're getting paid for each case. Hospital administrators, on the other hand, focus on everything outside the OR and are concerned about how all cases collectively affect the bottom line.