Alignment, transparency and shared goals are the core elements that make a strong anesthesia partner for ASCs.
Two anesthesia leaders joined Becker’s to describe their ideal anesthesia partner.
Question: What does a strong partnership between anesthesia and ASC leadership look like, and how do you build it?
Editor’s note: These responses were edited lightly for clarity and length.
Carlee Clark, MD. Chief of Anesthesia Integrated Clinical Center of Excellence and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston): A strong partnership between anesthesia and ASC leadership is grounded in shared goals, mutual trust and a commitment to patient-centered, efficient care. When anesthesia leaders are actively engaged in the strategic and operational conversations of an ASC, they bring a unique lens that bridges clinical safety, efficiency, and innovation.
Anesthesia care teams have the capacity to help ASC leaders create a pathway for the center to reach its fullest potential. As many health systems and ASCs look to expand their scope — offering more complex procedures and caring for higher-acuity patients — the expertise of anesthesia becomes essential. Anesthesia leaders are uniquely positioned to address the critical question: How can we safely expand services while maintaining the highest standards of care and operational efficiency?
Building this partnership begins with inclusion. Anesthesia leaders should be at the table early in discussions about case selection, facility design, staffing models and technology investments. Transparent communication, data-driven decision-making and shared accountability for outcomes foster a culture of collaboration. When anesthesia and ASC leadership work in concert — aligning quality, safety and financial goals — the result is a high-performing center that delivers exceptional care, supports surgeon satisfaction and advances the overall mission of the health system.
Jay Weller, MD. Anesthesiologist at Seven Hills Anesthesia; System Chief of Perioperative Medicine and Anesthesiology at TriHealth (Cincinnati): A strong partnership between an ASC and its anesthesia group is all about alignment. In days of yore, hospitals and ASCs could simply “demand” that their anesthesia group would cover whatever was “required.” As we collectively face the challenge of a nationwide anesthesia staffing crisis, there simply are not enough providers to accommodate an inefficient schedule. In our experience, the first step in alignment is to provide the ASC leadership with a full understanding of the cost of the coverage being requested and the clinical revenue generated by those cases. This often includes some education, but also a level of transparency that many anesthesia practices have not historically been willing to share. Once the ASC and anesthesia practice leadership achieve a common understanding of this cost-revenue relationship, it becomes much easier to identify and negotiate mechanisms to address the financial gap.