After approximately two years of collaboration, ASA and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) have finalized a joint Statement on Physician-Led, Team-Based Surgical Care, which is published below. Several members of the ASA Administrative Council, Board of Directors, and committee chairs and their counterparts at the ACS were involved in crafting the statement. The statement acknowledges that coordinated, multidisci-plinary care is more likely to result in positive patient outcomes, reduced costs and greater patient satisfaction.
Perioperative care is focused on con-sistent, efficient, safe, high-quality, patient-centered medical care, with timely access and full functional recovery being the ultimate goal.
Optimal care is best provided by a coordinated multidisciplinary team recognizing each member’s expertise. Coordinated surgical care provides best outcomes, lowers costs, and increases patient satisfaction.
Several models of coordinated care involving the patient’s individual surgeon, anesthesiologists, primary care physicians, hospitalists, medical specialists, nurses, and other health care professionals are in development....
