A simplified analysis to determine the impact of surgical procedure time on pediatric anesthesia productivity.
With fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursement, anesthesiologists benefit financially from cases that take longer than expected. Capitation, or fixed anesthesia reimbursement (FAR), might result in financial losses for such inefficient cases. In this investigation, we used the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' average anesthesia times as benchmarks for efficiency and examined case time characteristics for three surgical services: otorhinolaryngology, general surgery, and orthopedics. Our model demonstrated that some inefficient cases would be better billed FAR rather than FFS.
Brenn
B Randall
BR
Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care, Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children, Nemours Children's Clinic, Wilmington, Delaware, USA. brbrenn@nemours.org
Lawless
Stephen T
ST
D000761:Anesthesia Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000191:economics*; D019985:Benchmarking; D002204:Capitation Fee; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D002648:Child; D039702:Current Procedural Terminology; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000191:economics*; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans; D005251:Fees, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000191:economics; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000191:economics; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics*; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States