What can be done about the anesthesia shortage?

Anesthesia is facing provider shortages and reimbursement declines, affecting ASCs, physicians and hospitals across the country. 

Three ASC leaders joined Becker's to discuss what they think should be done to address the anesthesiologist shortage.

Editor's note: These responses were edited lightly for clarity and length. 

Joseph C. Mazzola. Vice President of Medical Affairs at Iredell Health System (Statesville, N.C.): Three key strategies can be used to address physician shortages:

1. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to reassess the 1997 Balanced Budget Act provision that limits funding for training of physician residents. Health systems with resident and fellowship programs cannot increase the size of their training programs without sufficient funding to provide that training.
2. Medical school student debt relief programs should be created that will be allocated to physicians who train in high shortage area specialties in exchange for substantial repayment of their student loans
3. Federal funds need to be attributed to hospitals and health systems to offset the financial burden of expanding or creating residency and fellowship training programs. According to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report, hospitals starting their first graduate medical education training program spend an estimated $2 million to $8 million over three to seven years to establish GME programs prior to receiving any reimbursement for the program.

Javier Marull, MD. Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas): To address this, there's a need to boost training opportunities by expanding residency programs and encouraging more medical students to choose anesthesiology. Smart scheduling can help manage patient loads more effectively and efficiently. Embracing a team-based approach, where anesthesiologists work closely with nurse anesthetists, is also beneficial. Moreover, changes in policies to enhance working conditions, as well as supporting the well-being of current staff through a healthy work environment and access to mental health resources, are key to preventing burnout.

Alan Zneimer, MD. Private Practice Anesthesiologist in San Leandro, Calif.: We need more anesthesia residencies, so we are training more anesthesiologists. The government needs to address this issue. We are actually turning away medical school graduates who cannot get into anesthesia training programs because they are filled.