One of the biggest current challenges for all anesthesiology practices, regardless of size, setting or model, is to demonstrate value to patients, payers and administrators. Yet the concept of “value” means different things to different stakeholders. For patients, “value” likely means a safe anesthetic with minimal or no complications, administered by a caring and compassionate physician anesthesiologist. For facility administrators, “value” may translate to getting the most reliable anesthesia care for a reasonable cost, with excellent and responsive service.
While the most basic definition of value is quality/cost, it is important to realize that there is a third component – service. Inherent within the definition of “value” is the sobering reality that we no longer can work solely within the silo of the O.R. suite and expect to be considered valuable. Value in anesthesia care is defined not by safe emergence, but by longer-term outcomes for which our care is...
