In the upcoming weeks, we will occasionally discuss a topic the Somnia team has encountered in its daily interactions with facility administrators – including hospitals and outpatient settings. The first in the series explores the perception of national anesthesia providers.
There is a general misconception that a national anesthesia management company is a “mothership” – a conglomerate that is awarded a contract for anesthesia services and then operates in a silo – detached from the day-to-day operations of the anesthesia department and the hospital.
While some providers do operate with a hands-off approach, there are a few, like Somnia Anesthesia, who take the determined route of providing a local team with a strong national infrastructure. It is in those instances when outsourcing anesthesia services provides more than just anesthesia staffing and can be the perioperative partner that so many hospitals need.
In a white paper published by Aramark Healthcare, the benefits listed of outsourcing support services in the healthcare sector include increased patient satisfaction, better employee retention, greater accessto resources, improved cost savings and cost avoidance, risk sharing, and access to capital improvement dollars.
Many of these factors are comparable when outsourcing anesthesia services to a national provider. Facilities require fewer resources to address non-clinical anesthesia services (recruiting, credentialing, billing, and quality management); a cost-effective structure is more likely; a greater control for the hospital; and accountable leadership in the form of a chief of anesthesia and on-site administrator.
It is the final point that’s probably most important, and often overlooked, by hospitals when choosing between a local group and a national provider. Yes, the corporate headquarters could be miles away, but the chief and administrator who are on site are extensions of the national provider, and are placed in that role because they are flexible and accountable. Naturally, one size does not fit all, and admittedly not all providers, whether local or national, are hands-on, but there are several that still exhibit the ideal characteristics of trusted anesthesia partner.
Somnia Anesthesia
Blog Editor