Clinical anesthesiologists always wonder about paucity of time for job-mandated administrative work, license/certification-mandated continuing education, and innovation/discovery-related research pursuit (J Educ Perioper Med 2021;23:E657). The question is who the payers are for the time allocated for their administrative, educational, and research needs (Int Anesthesiol Clin 2020;58:41-5). There is a Work-Time when one is actively engaged with paid work. There is a Home-Time when one is actively invested at home. There is a Down-Time when one tends to passively exist at work or at home. Finally, there is a Me-Time when one is actively involved with one’s own self, away from all the hassle-rassle at work and at home (Workplace Health Saf 2018;66:52). The uncompensated and ill-defined administrative, educational, and research Work-Time encroaches on Home-Time, Down-Time, and Me-Time. However, one must not overlook that clinical Work-Time-generated dollar payments from government as well as nongovernment payers are either directly reimbursing clinical anesthesiologists working as independent contractors or indirectly compensating them via their groups, employers, or health care facilities. Clinical anesthesiologists may have Down-Time while medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of resident anesthesiologists and nonphysician anesthesia providers who are personally performing anesthesia care for their patients. Thus, the questions arise:
- Can clinical anesthesiologists perform job-mandated administrative work while medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of anesthesia providers?
- Can clinical anesthesiologists self-learn from license/certification-mandated continuing education while medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of anesthesia providers?
- Can clinical anesthesiologists innovate/discover when pursuing research while medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of anesthesia providers?
- Can time-use research among medically directing, supervising, or leading clinical anesthesiologists objectively quantify the indirect dollar payment percentages for their administrative, educational, and research work from among their clinical Work-Time-generated dollar payments by government as well as nongovernment payers? (Front Med 2022;8:768919).
- Are multitasking clinical anesthesiologists saving time dollars for government as well as nongovernment payers who otherwise would have to separately reimburse for clinical anesthesiologists’ time spent in job-mandated administrative work, license/certification-mandated continuing education, and innovation/discovery-related research pursuit?
In a nutshell, clinical anesthesiologists should recognize the inadvertently reimbursed Down-Time that is available for job-mandated administrative work, license/certification-mandated continuing education, and innovation/discovery-related research pursuit until government as well as nongovernment payers mandate to utilize clinical Work-Time only for medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of anesthesia providers. When it happens so, government as well as nongovernment payers would be asked to separately pay for clinical anesthesiologists’ job-mandated administrative work, license/certification-mandated continuing education, and innovation/discovery-related research pursuit. Thereafter, government as well as nongovernment payers will have to allow alternate wellness activities during Down-Time when clinical anesthesiologists are medically directing, supervising, or leading teams of anesthesia providers. However, if government as well as nongovernment payers will not figure out the best management of anesthesiologists’ Down-Time, anesthesiologists may unlock this deadlock by personally performing anesthesia services so that inadvertently reimbursed Down-Time may cease to exist, with administration, education, and innovation in anesthesiology suffering thereafter.
Deepak Gupta, MD
Detroit, Michigan