VolatileAgent, perhaps you can be kind enough to tell me what demographics have to do with the proliferation of CRNA groups.
This CRNA group owner has been in the business for 20+ years and since he has also been the president of the CRNA society has seen and learned many of the tricks anesthesia groups use to fleece unwary doctors. He show a very strong anti-physician bias so along with his obvious greed and knowledge of the business side of anesthesia which makes him as dangerous or more dangerous than the worst anesthesia management company. I just think he needs to polish his delivery, but that will come with time. Soon, he will have figured out how to con people into working for him before they figure out how dishonest he is.
I am a little more careful than most new graduates, since I check the state license database of all the employees that I will be working with, along with seeking out ex-employees to get the full story about a position. I also have seen a few contract and can tell what is excessive and ridiculous.
well, the first problem happens just right there with your first statement. i take objection to the perception that there has been a "proliferation of crna groups", and i'm waiting (and will continue to wait) for someone to prove to me that this is actually occurring.
the facts are that there are roughly 80,000 anesthesia "providers" in the U.S. these are made up by anesthesiologists, crna's, aa's, csn's, and a small host of other people who are providing anesthesia without formal training (i specificlally and personally know of a FP doc in maine who is doing this right now). out of those 80K providers, roughly 60% are anesthesiologists - that is, md's or do's who've completed an acgme/aoa boardable anesthesiology residency program.
in order for the crna groups to be "proliferating" or, even worse, taking over there would have to occur several things. first, they'd have to grossly outnumber us (which they don't). secondly, the political and practice management climate would have to be favorable
in all venues for them to take the upper hand (which it isn't). and, lastly, patients would suddenly have to have no say in where they electively seek their care (which they, in the majority of cases, still do). if all those things happened, forget just about anesthesia - the entire system would melt down.
on this forum, we are subjected to a few anecdotal examples and suddenly everyone starts to believe this is "the norm". it's a chicken little phenomenon. i'm not saying don't be vigilant, don't bury your head in the sand and ignore such examples, or not that we should even talk about them. what i am saying is try not to characterize this as what's inevitably going to happen. it can't. we are not outnumbered, and we won't be. more crna's going into the field creates more competition for jobs on
their end, not ours.
you yourself say this particular crna has been in the business for 20+ years. and, he hasn't taken over the whole system, has he? again, i'd say
caveat emptor to any anesthesiologist who even remotely entertains entering into such an agreement. in no other words, some
individual didn't properly do their homework. how is the whole system to blame for that?
i think, after seeing a huge trend on this forum over the past few months, that people need to realize that their individual choices are as important as what the ASA can or should be doing for them. you all can start by educating your colleagues, many of whom (i'm finding in the real world) are blissfully uninformed about what it means to the entire profession when they consider a job, say, in a practice management company.
that's where change starts. talking and discussing, not complaining that someone else isn't doing enough. and, right now, believe it or not, we still do have the upper hand.