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Anesthesia is at the mercy of the surgeon. Why should we be punished if the case last longer than it should be?

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I can think of reasons in which the insurance companies’ positions make perfect sense and are justified. What if anesthesiologists are intentionally milking the system by unnecessarily prolonging their engagement?

What we have here is a wonkish issue that almost none of us knows shite about.

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It’s very common practice to watch a procedure or 2 before committing to a surgeon. Just time them or request previous surgical records and do t choose one that routinely goes over. If you let doctors take as long as they want they will naturally extend the procedure.

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This is some of the most ignorant shite ever posted on this site. Quite an accomplishment.

I’ll just take a single point: a surgeon and the hospital make more money off of 3 T&A’s that take 20 minutes each than a single T&A that takes 60 minutes.

There is no incentive to drag your feet… quite the opposite.

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these insurance companies are evil. They are strictly about the bottom line

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EVERY company is strictly about the bottom line. Either that are they are about limiting liability (which is really the same thing) or charity. I’ve had about eight or ten companies, and every partner I’ve had in every company was about one thing - the bottom line.

I take that back. One partner was all about the top line. He thought revenue was the big lever for his valuation. I still think he was wrong, but anyway, it’s much the same thing - personal enrichment.

I always look for a surgeon who will rush/hurry.

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How many are doing that vs how many could be harmed by surgeon or someone rushing?

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You see? A great example of not knowing anything about the issue. Someone has already posted that the surgeons are paid by the engagement, not by how long it takes.

I don’t know enough about it to opine; neither do you. But that ain’t stopping you.

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a surgeon and the hospital make more money off of 3 T&A’s

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Listen Gus, I appreciate your insight, and even more how you tricked Lorena Wood into giving it up, but please try to use terms those of us outside the industry understand.

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I can think of reasons in which the insurance companies’ positions make perfect sense and are justified. What if anesthesiologists are intentionally milking the system by unnecessarily prolonging their engagement?

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So the patient should suffer because the doctor they allowed in THEIR network is an a'hole?

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So the patient should suffer because the doctor they allowed in THEIR network is an a'hole?

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That’s not what would happen, which is that anesthesiologists who are taking unfair advantage of the system would stop doing that. Please remember that this is hypothetical; I’m not implying that is what is happening.

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Did she do anything more than publish the name and picture? If she provided context like "contact the CEO" or something, that's going to change things.

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Just the name and picture along with a screengrab of another tweet about BCBS new limitation on anesthesia.

Given that the UHC CEO’s body wasn’t even cold yet when she sent this out, if you think she was trying to do anything besides threaten or intimidate the BCBS CEO, then I don’t know what to tell you

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Anesthesia is at the mercy of the surgeon. Why should we be punished if the case last longer than it should be?

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I am not condoning the implication of killing this CEO. I want to address this comment specifically. There are now a lot of facilities that perform procedures where the anesthesiologist is not contracted with the facility and therefore bills separately. Typically for anesthesia it is part of the supercharge for the procedure. This is likely a way to make the anesthesia reimbursement standardized for the procedure. Surgeons/hospitals get a certain amount based on what the procedure is, not based on time, per the contracts with blue cross and others. These independent anesthesiologist often require the patient to pay with a check and then give the patient a superbill for them to file with insurance. This may actually be a way to protect patients from anesthesiologist over charging them as the patient has a way to negotiate with the anesthesiologist now to say this is what you get.