Alvaro Liceaga, MD, of Regional Pain Treatment Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., discusses how outpatient surgery has affected anesthesia practices and how the field will continue to evolve.
Question: What spurred you to found the Alliance Surgery Center and Orangewood Surgical Center?
Dr. Al Liceaga: Independence from the hospital, efficiency, profitability and patient satisfaction.
Q: How has outpatient surgery impacted anesthesia and pain management practices?
AL: ASCs have allowed all surgical practitioners to participate in healthcare without the shackles of a hospital bureaucracy. The needs of physicians and patients are better addressed when the doctor is allowed to participate and decide the quality of care that is rendered at their center.
Q: How do you think the anesthesiology field will evolve in the next five years?
AL: Many anesthesia providers will retire as is. Independence within a regional pain group should replace individual MD independence. Anesthesia and pain management physicians, in large part, will need to consolidate into regional corporate practices in order to compete with the stresses of the ACA, consolidation of the ASC business model, competition and political changes.
Pain Management physicians are now more than anesthesiology. Pain boards have been offering certification for physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, etc. Cooperation between all is essential to maintain the ability to provide pain management technologies to our patients. Inclusion of individual skill sets for these providers in a cooperative group setting will allow future access to treatment. Joint group cooperation in administration, facility and marketing will be beneficial.
Learn more from Dr. Al Liceaga at the 15th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference + The Future of Spine in June 2017! Click here for more information.