Anesthesia

General anesthesia is safer than regional anesthesia for patients undergoing minimally invasive treatment for liver cancer, according to a study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

A special wound catheter used to infuse local anesthetic into the hip joint can provide improved post-operative pain control for patients undergoing hip replacement surgery, according to a study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

CMS has announced that anesthesia codes that include the phrase "not otherwise specified" in their descriptions (including procedure codes 00100-01996) do not meet the criteria of a non-specified procedure code, according to an ASA release.

The average annual pay for a Houston-based anesthesiologist is $221,120, the highest-paying healthcare profession in the city, according to an analysis of 2010 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Houston Business Journal.

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) addressed ongoing drug shortages on the Senate floor on Jan. 26, according to an ASA release.

Roger Fons, MD, has been appointed assistant professor of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, according to a Wauwatosa Now report.

Bryant Murphy, MD, an anesthesiologist and partner with Cumberland Anesthesia Associates in Fayetteville, N.C., has been named to the board of trustees of Fayetteville-based Cape Fear Valley Health, according to a Fayetteville Observer report.

A new study published in the Feb. 2012 issue of Anesthesiology found that the type of lipid emulsion used to reverse toxicity of local anesthetics may change the effectiveness of the reversal, according to a Newswise report.

Editor's note: This article by Tony Mira, president and CEO of Anesthesia Business Consultants, an anesthesia & pain management billing and practice management services company, originally appeared in Anesthesia Business Consultants eAlerts, a free electronic newsletter. Sign-up to receive this…

The American Society of Anesthesiologists offered the perspective of anesthesiologists and solutions to the growing drug shortage pandemic in an official submission to the U.S. Senate Finance and U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committees, according to an ASA…