I read with great interest the September 2012 ASA NEWSLETTER article “Can Anesthesiologists Survive Under Accountable Care?” by David Young, M.D. and Jeffrey Peters, M.D.1 It is an example of a successful story of the Perioperative Surgical Home™ concept of care. They demonstrated that by driving improvements in quality, efficiency and surgeon service, anesthesiologists can make themselves indispensable to organizations focused on improving patient outcomes, controlling costs and maximizing O.R. revenue.
The Perioperative Surgical Home™ concept would more actively integrate anesthesiologists into the patient continuum by increasing their involvement in all parts of the perioperative period, including preoperative assessment, intraoperative stabilization and safeguarding of all body systems and vital organs, and postoperative optimization and pain relief.2 By coordinating the services provided by other health care professionals in the perioperative period, the anesthesiologist also would improve communication and address system issues that frequently contribute to suboptimal outcomes.2
The...