Outsourcing Anesthesia Is a Competitive Advantage

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Veterans of the business, practice, and policy of healthcare will all tell you the same thing. Contrary to the best efforts of the AHA, ambulatory surgery is finally being allowed to meet the needs of a population that is both growing and aging in ways that hospitals, increasingly falling into the category of acute care, haven’t been able to for decades. New ASCs are breaking ground every week. CMS is continuing to move procedures to more outpatient settings. The American Society of Anesthesiologists is noting that this same growth, alongside innovation in medical technology are making it increasingly beneficial for physicians to perform more complex procedures in their offices, which in turn further frees up ASCs for higher complexity cases which, further still, reduces burdens on hospitals. Finally, these outpatient procedures are more convenient for patients and represent a better quality of life for clinicians.

The benefits hardly stop there, though. In addition to higher reimbursement rates, the cost to perform procedures in an office-based setting is typically less than half the cost of doing them in a hospital. As a result of this increase, office-based anesthesia is also seeing significant growth.

That said, anesthesia can remain a sticking point. Focus, available resources, and recovery time can all impact throughput. That’s where taking the same model of specialization and ambulatory focus that comes with ASCs and office-based procedures and applying it to anesthesia becomes a competitive advantage for doctors and surgery centers. Let’s get into it.

The finance of outsourced anesthesia

From a financial perspective a turn-key outsourced partner assists in direct cost savings along with reduced clinical and administrative resources. An effective model eliminates the need to recruit for any anesthesia staff and pay for ACLS-certified pre-op and recover nurses. Furthermore, the anesthesia-related supplies, equipment, and medications are provided to ensure everything you would need to purchase for other anesthesia groups or to handle the anesthesia yourself is taken care of. That helps not only your bottom line but is less to worry about in this age of healthcare where every minute and resource counts. All of this along with emergency preparedness and items such as a crash cart and defibrillator makes this a seamless and financially beneficial solution that you will realize you cannot do office procedures without, which is why our clients never leave. That way, anesthesia and everything it touches scales easily with a practice’s needs due to its size and experience offering flexibility with procedures and schedules to minimize your headaches and costs and maximize your patient experience and profitability.

Patients and outsourced anesthesia

Beyond the financial benefits, there are other reasons outsourcing anesthesia makes sense. From a patient perspective office-based procedures are often deemed a more pleasant experience in comparison to hospitals and surgery centers. Patients are familiar with the surroundings and there is lower rate of infection in comparison to a hospital setting. A practice’s choice of anesthesia provider can greatly impact the patient experience as well; consider the following.

Office-based procedures require special techniques and perioperative care so patients can go home as quickly as possible. A partner with experience solely working in this environment ensures patients receive the optimal anesthesia plan and medications throughout the surgical procedure for their well-being short and long-term and removes the need to rely on hospital resources. As a result patients fall asleep, wake up, and recover more quickly— without complications like post-op pain, memory loss, and nausea which contributes to a more positive experience.

AMS partner practices bring the gold standard of quality care and emergency preparedness to physician offices. With no medical malpractice settlements in more than 12 years and 300,000 cases, and a client retention rate of greater than 95 percent. If your outpatient surgery practice is looking to grow, the right anesthesia partner will put you above the competition.