John B. Neeld, Jr., M.D., 1999 ASA President, will present the Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture in 2013. Responding to the economic reality that our nation cannot sustain ever-increasing health care costs, and the need to provide best quality anesthesia care to an aging and growing population in an era of a continuing shortage of anesthesiologists, ASA has promoted the anesthesiologist-led anesthesia care team as the best model for 21st century care.
Rather than embrace the physician-led model of care and its record of patient safety and quality, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) has undertaken aggressive efforts in legislative and regulatory arenas in state capitals and Washington, D.C., with the goal of dismantling the physician-led model of care. The AANA and the nursing community are joined in these efforts by powerful and well-organized allies, including other advanced practice nurse (APN) organizations and a coalition, including the American...
