Benchmarking Anesthesiologists’ Performance: Understanding Factors That Impact Productivity

Benchmarking productivity is increasingly used to evaluate physicians and physician practices. Organizations such as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and the American Medical Group Association, or AMGA, provide survey-based benchmarking data on physicians and physician practices. Hospitals, health systems and practices utilize productivity benchmarking in comparing practices or physicians, determining personnel needs and in productivity-based compensation arrangements. While benchmarking data is available for anesthesiology, the usefulness of this information is limited due to the broad and varied differences in practices, the wide range of factors that impact total ASA unit (tASA) production, and the limited ability to account for these factors in survey-based data collection. However, the available benchmarking data may be used to challenge performance of anesthesiologists or practices. Understanding the factors that impact group or individual productivity is increasingly important for articulating constraints in anesthesiology productivity...