This article appears in the March 2013 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.


If your hospital or health system is currently using an all-physician anesthesia group, this might be a ripe opportunity to cut costs without compromising patient safety, say many advocates.


The issue of whether hospitals can be reimbursed by CMS for using unsupervised certified registered nurse anesthetists is a contentious one, but it has been decided since 2001, when a Medicare and Medicaid regulation change allowed states to opt out of a requirement that nurse anesthetists be supervised by an anesthesiologist. Some 17 states have done so, but even in states that haven't, many chief executives could achieve significant savings by creating anesthesia care teams with anesthesiologists in ...