CMS reimbursements for physicians are on the decline, affecting every specialty nationwide.
As practices are already struggling to keep anesthesiologists on staff as competition and costs rise, declining reimbursements could impact the industry even more.
Reimbursement declines are expected to create major changes in the industry, even if specialists are not sure how just yet.
"Declining physician reimbursements with staff shortages are forcing leaders to become creative with their staffing models and reconsider what anesthesia practices will look like in the future. The next few years will see significant changes in the way we practice anesthesia," Adeel Faruki, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told Becker's. "I am looking forward to seeing how creative ASCs, hospitals and academic institutions become in order to deal with these reimbursement changes in combination with increasing costs of employment."