I was just wondering,

How do anesthesiologists bill?

What is the average reimbursement per case?

How many cases does a hospital bases gas doc do per day?

What prompted this is the fact that I saw a plastic surgeon's ad for a anesthesiologist to work with him/her that said he did 400 cases per year and I was wondering if that would be lucrative at all for the anesthesiologist b/c I heard that you get paid in the ballpark of $100 per case. I can understand this would be alright if you were in a hospital setting and running 10-20 cases per day, but how does this work in private practice?

Is the primary benefit of groups the sheer volume of cases they bring in each year?

How does pain reimbursement work?

I really appreciate your time, and no I am not interested in gas solely for the money, I am sincerely curious about how anesthesiology cases are billed.
Thanks

there are many on this board who will offer you more details about this, but here is my short answer.

anes bill "units" per case done. you bill a certain number of units for starting a case "induction" and units for each 10 or 15 mins increments and units for central line, a line, etc, and acuity. each unit is worth anywhere from roughly $20 to $80. (from lowest to highest payer) when you go into group practice, you will know how much each insurance carrier pays per unit, etc....medicare pays the lowest.

working for plastic surgeons can be lucrative because most of the cases are not covered by insurance and patients have to pay you directly, so you can charge a higher unit rate. illustration: a one hour plastics case. 4 units to start plus 4 increments of 15 mins. is 8 units. can charge say, 50 dollars a units. (about average for a private payer) $400 for the one hour case. this is just an example. highly variable. hope this helps.

PS: $100/case is very low. don't this that is accurate info.

Thanks - I appreciate your input. The idea of "units" makes a lot more sense.


there are many on this board who will offer you more details about this, but here is my short answer.

anes bill "units" per case done. you bill a certain number of units for starting a case "induction" and units for each 10 or 15 mins increments and units for central line, a line, etc, and acuity. each unit is worth anywhere from roughly $20 to $80. (from lowest to highest payer) when you go into group practice, you will know how much each insurance carrier pays per unit, etc....medicare pays the lowest.

working for plastic surgeons can be lucrative because most of the cases are not covered by insurance and patients have to pay you directly, so you can charge a higher unit rate. illustration: a one hour plastics case. 4 units to start plus 4 increments of 15 mins. is 8 units. can charge say, 50 dollars a units. (about average for a private payer) $400 for the one hour case. this is just an example. highly variable. hope this helps.

PS: $100/case is very low. don't this that is accurate info.