As the market undergoes a period of contraction, the threat of shrinking payments and legislative uncertainty have created an environment where anesthesia and hospitals have to align, Anesthesia Business Consultants President Tony Mira said in a blog post.
Myckowiak Associates, PC, Attorney Vicki Myckowiak, Esq. offered several strategies to achieve this alignment.
Here is what you need to know.
1. Anesthesia groups need to think about how they fit into a hospital group.
"The anesthesia group has to find a way to compete in the changing marketplace" Ms. Myckowiak said in an educational session. "This is going to require very strong leadership, a willingness to adapt, commitment to hard work that's not always compensated, understanding how to win a request for proposal and negotiating to keep your contract."
2. Anesthesiologists need to "provide more than excellent anesthesia care." Hospitals often want anesthesia care on demand. Ms. Myckowiak said hospitals often want on demand 24/7 coverage and a flexibility to accommodate any sort of changing need. She said anesthesia groups can accommodate that and other needs if a hospital realizes it needs to subsidize those efforts.
3. Groups should make an effort to understand what hospitals need and give it to them. Anesthesia groups should make an attempt to always accommodate the hospital because if they don't, "somebody else is likely to come in and offer to do it," Ms. Myckowiak said.
Understand the hospital's strategic plan and determine how the anesthesia group's goals fit into it.
She added that anesthesia groups need to make quality reporting a higher priority than it already is. Although many view the practice as burdensome, it's quintessential to hospital reimbursement.
4. Finally, Ms. Myckowiak said groups need to be at the forefront of value-based care.
She predicts that although anesthesia groups may be hesitant at first due to billing constraints, taking this step is going to add value to an anesthesia group.
She encourages groups to look towards bundled payments, perioperative surgical home and enhanced recovery after surgery and see how groups can incorporate them into standard operations.