OutpatientSurgery.net > Newsletters > E-Weekly August 31, 2010

OutpatientSurgery.net > Newsletters > E-Weekly (August 31, 2010)#2#2#2#2#2#2: "Researchers Predict Anesthesiologist Shortage, CRNA Surplus"
A recent analysis of the anesthesia labor market speculates that a current shortfall of providers across the surgical industry could widen in the next 10 years into a much larger shortage of anesthesiologists and a surplus of nurse anesthetists. In its study, which was funded by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, the Rand Corporation calculated a nationwide personnel shortage of 3,800 anesthesiologists and 1,282 certified registered nurse anesthetists at present. By the year 2020, however, the shortage of anesthesiologists could reach 4,500, while the ranks of CRNAs could swell to a surplus of about 8,000. The study's authors based this projection on a survey that examined anesthesia providers' employment details, compensation, demographics, use of technology and other factors, as well as on the assumption that the demand for anesthesia services would continue to grow at an annual rate of 1.6%, as it had between 1985 and 2004. That's 1 scenario. If the demand for growth increases to 3 percent in response to the increasing medical needs of the baby boom generation, the shortage of anesthesiologists could reach 12,500, say the researchers, while an excess 15,000 CRNAs appear on the market. In the anesthesiologists' view, American patients will "face a gap in anesthesiology services that is just as important to Americans' health as the projected physician gap for primary care services," says Mark A. Warner, MD, the president-elect of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The study should spur the need for training in the field, he says. In an e-mail, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists' President Paul Santoro, CRNA, MS, says his group finds the surplus predictions "overly optimistic," but adds that the potential increased access to anesthesia care is "a tremendous positive." "Think about it: Thanks to health reform, a projected 30 million uninsured Americans will soon be entering the healthcare system," he writes. "Anesthesia services for surgical, obstetrical and trauma care will be in demand like never before. ... Americans can rest assured that CRNAs provide the safest, most cost-effective anesthesia care available." While the 2 professional organizations collaborated with Rand on its survey of providers, they did not sponsor the study.
David Bernard