ASCs continue to face operational challenges as reimbursement rates decline and the anesthesia provider shortage persists.
Here's how three ASCs and medical centers are getting creative in their approach to securing anesthesia providers:
1. Bruce Feldman, an administrator of Eastern Orange Ambulatory Surgery Center in Cornwall, N.Y., is introducing a new approach to anesthesia stipends. His center plans to require surgeons to pay a fee if they don't meet the minimum number of cases required for their assigned block of operating time.
"Let's say a surgeon's block requires a minimum of eight cases, but they only end up doing six cases," he told Becker's. "The anesthesia group will send a bill to the surgeon for $300 for each case that they were short, resulting in a bill of $600 in this scenario. So the financial hit will fall on the surgeon, not the center."
2. 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 or 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 Beckers' 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."
3. Jennifer Danner, the senior director of Orlando (Fla.) Health Jewett ORthopedic Institute, prioritizes communication between anesthesia providers and surgeons by holding monthly forecasting meetings and daily safety huddles. This creates a space for all members of the surgical team to meet and iron out any potential 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."