Patrick Garman

And so the cost of anesthesia continues to rise.

That's also offset with declining reimbursements for anesthesia.

For too long, anesthesiology as a profession was caught up in this battle between the physician, anesthesiologist, and the CRNA, certified registered nurse anesthetist, okay?

Both qualified individuals, the majority of the procedures performed in a surgery center are reported by CRNAs.

but they spent so much time feuding from state to state around the country, they took their eye off the ball.

They did not pay attention to their own reimbursement.

So the anesthesia reimbursement continues to plummet

Well, hospitals get increases every year.

The surgery center gets a little bit of a bump.

Some of the doctors get a bump.

Some of them don't in the right direction.

Anesthesia reimbursement continues to plummet.

So now in order to sustain their costs and the expense of providing the necessary anesthesia so we could do surgery, we have to sustain that with a stipend.

And sometimes it gets uncontrollable.

That's a major issue.

I've heard about it all day today from a variety of different settings.

I don't remember discussing it this seriously before.

This is my 12th straight year coming in June and October.

I've never seen it reach a point where it's an unsustainable concern.

That's one.