5 Critical Anesthesia Related Issues Facing Hospitals
July 5, 2022
Many healthcare organizations are in the midst of reassessing their needs, restructuring their organization, and rebuilding their teams. When it comes to specialized services like anesthesia, hospitals must deal with the ebbs and flows of patient volume and new regulations. Furthermore, anesthesiologists and CRNAs are some of the most sought-after medical providers in the world, making them imperative to have available yet fraught with challenges such as inconsistent billing and staffing models. Below we take a deeper dive into five of the most significant issues facing anesthesia departments and how to overcome them.
Recruitment and Retention
The competition for physician talent is intense, with just about every hospital in the country struggling to find and keep top physicians. Unfortunately, the situation is only looking to become more challenging as the American population steadily ages, combined with the fact that almost half of all physicians are nearing retirement. For specialists, like anesthesiologists, it can take months to recruit the right candidate and even more time to license and relocate if necessary.
This is an overwhelming undertaking for many hospitals. However, third-party anesthesia partners can come to the table with a network of talented, experienced providers ready to work. Whether a hospital needs locums or full-time staff, the right partner can negotiate pay and perks, arrange travel, and be a single point of contact for quality candidates.
Support for Your Team and Your Patients
Many anesthesia medical teams are overworked and struggling to keep up with the demands of their job. Meetings and communication often fall by the wayside, which leaves little time to build a culture of connectivity. This not only impacts job satisfaction and retention rates but has a direct effect on patient care as well if an anesthesia provider is too busy or too stressed to handle their case.
By taking back-office tasks like billing, analytics, and regulatory management off their plates and assisting with technology, team building, and communication, anesthesiologists and CRNAs can focus on performing the essential healthcare services their patients need, improving quality of care and satisfaction for both patient and provider.
Managing Costs and Expenses
Over-staffing, compensation miscalculations, keeping up with new regulations, and anesthesia billing challenges burden hospitals with extra expenses. With so many changes, mistakes happen even in the most professional environments.
With the right partner who comes to the table with state-of-the-art reporting tools and strategies, they can help your hospital become more productive through monitoring patient flow and adjusting staff schedules or by identifying new potential avenues for revenue.
Effective Leadership
Anesthesia medical directors wear many hats. They are usually required to create the anesthesia schedule, oversee quality improvement agendas, recruit providers, serve as the liaison between the hospital administration and anesthesiology department, help the hospital prepare for regulatory accreditations, and spend time on various committees.
It is no surprise that anesthesia medical directors need support. Premier Anesthesia will work closely with you to not only find the right person for the job, but to support them in staffing needs, monitor the budget, review performance metrics, and more.
Quality Measurement
Many hospitals make providing quality care an utmost priority, but some have no means to measure performance, especially in specialty areas such as anesthesia. While there is technology available to gather this valuable data, numerous hospitals don’t have the budget or the time to set up their own system, much less analyze the data to make improvements.
Gathering this information is a must for healthcare facilities that want to continue providing vital anesthesia services. Collecting, evaluating, and inspecting data can be done by an outsourcing partner who, in turn, delivers meaningful information for improved decision-making. In the long run, working with a third party is more cost-efficient, effective, and profitable than hiring extra internal staff or ignoring analytics altogether.
Anesthesia Outsourcing Is an Opportunity
With the healthcare industry in flux, many hospitals increase revenue and better manage their operations by utilizing a distributed model through third-party vendors. By outsourcing in time-consuming areas and where there is a lack of expertise, medical facilities free up their internal staff. They can get back to providing exceptional and vital patient care.
Anesthesia plays a crucial role in maximizing operating room volume, and Premier Anesthesia is a strategic partner aligned with your goals and needs. If you would like to learn more about how we can help your hospital, contact us.