Anesthesia

Samaritan Healthcare, based in Moses Lake, Wash., has corrected deficiencies in anesthesia practice noticed by Department of Health surveyors, according to a Columbia Basin Herald report.

A North Dakota oral and maxillofacial surgeon who filed a whistleblower case over the anesthesia department at MeritCare (now Sanford Health) has been awarded $895,000 by a jury, according to a Dr. Bicuspid report.

NYU Langone Hospital for Joint Diseases' Center for Children, part of the new Hassenfield Pediatric Center, will be the first pediatric center in the New York metropolitan area to introduce a needle-free anesthetic system, according to a News-Medical report.

New York-based pharmaceutical supplier American Regent is voluntarily recalling one lot of phenylephrine HCI injection following potential safety concerns, according to an RTT News report.

A Canadian study published in the March issue of Anesthesiology found there was a higher frequency of litigation and a greater frequency of patient injury associated with litigations when the anesthesiologist was 65 or older.

Court-ordered talks have spurred settlements in 41 lawsuits involving drug companies accused of supply an anesthetic that encouraged unsafe injection practices in Las Vegas medical clinics, according to a Las Vegas Sun report.

Dexamethasone is an effective antiemetic for patients receiving neuraxial morphine for cesarean delivery and abdominal hysterectomy, according to a study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

Practice management company Mednax expects to spend approximately $300 million buying up physician practices in 2012 — two-thirds of which will go towards growing the company's American Anesthesiology division, according to an American Medical News report.

Anesthesia information management systems are experiencing growth in the perioperative setting, according to research from Atlanta-based Surgical Information Systems.

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…