Hospitals and health systems in Michigan, in line with a national trend, are outsourcing support staff, such as nurse anesthetists, to reduce costs and increase reimbursement potential, according to a Crain's Detroit Business report.
For instance, Warren, Mich.-based St. John Providence Health System recently terminated the contracts of 68 nurse anesthetists at two of its hospitals after they repeatedly rejected terms offered under a new outside contractor.
The hospitals — Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Mich., and Providence Park Hospital in Southfield, Mich., — are now staffed with anesthesiologists brought by the new contractor. The contractor is called PSJ Anesthesia, a newly founded company affiliated with Dominick Lago, MD, an anesthesiologist at both hospitals.
Here are three things to know about other hospitals outsourcing nurse anesthetists to anesthesiology groups.
1. McLaren Macomb in Mt. Clemens, Mich., recently completed a nearly four-year process to outsource nurse anesthetists into Bay City, Mich.-based anesthesiology group Great Lakes Physician Resources. According to Mark O'Halla, COO of Flint, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care, Great Lakes replaced a longtime local anesthesiology practice, Lakeside Anesthesia, and hired the McLaren nurse anesthetists last year.
2. McLaren Lapeer (Mich.) is also looking to transfer employed nurse anesthetists into Anesthesia Services Associates, a private anesthesiology group based in Jackson, Mich., by December 2017, Mr. O'Halla said, according to Crain's Detroit Business.
3. Additionally, Detroit Medical Center replaced Anesthesia Staffing Consultants, its anesthesiology group based in Bingham Farms, Mich., after Arlington, Texas-based Northstar Anesthesia acquired ASC, according to the report. DMC also outsourced its employed nurse anesthetists into Northstar.
According to Crain's Detroit Business, Vicki Myckowiak, a partner with Myckowiak and Associates in Southfield, Mich., said the drivers behind hospitals outsourcing nurse anesthetists are declining reimbursement due to the Affordable Care Act and increased financial subsidies hospitals must pay to compensate their nurse anesthetists.
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