SA will hold its 2006 Conference on Practice Management in Orlando, Florida, on January 27-29. Registration opens this month, with conference brochures to be made available at the ASA Annual Meeting. The conference program will be made available on the ASA Web site in mid-October.

The conference will meet at the Hilton Hotel inside the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Timely registration is encouraged. The conference has sold out in past years, and 2006 registration will be limited to 500. The Hilton is an “official” hotel of Walt Disney World, with a four-diamond rating from the American Automobile Association, making it both comfortable and convenient for conference attendees and their families.

The Conference on Practice Management has a tradition of good speakers addressing hot topics. Speakers represent economic, regulatory, legal and general health care disciplines as well anesthesiology. Speakers in the plenary and breakout sessions of the 2006 conference will include 16 anesthesiologists, four lawyers, three practice administrators and three consultants, although several speakers could qualify for more than one category. Their topics include those identified as having the greatest impact on the practices of anesthesiologists. The 2004 conference covered the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and privacy requirements, while the 2005 conference introduced pay-for-performance as an emerging issue. The 2006 conference will cover important practicalities of workforce management, customer service, quality improvement and contracting for anesthesiologists.

Discussion group at 2005 conference. (Photo by the author)

Talks scheduled for 2006 include: “How to Handle Disruptive Colleagues” by James S. Hicks, M.D., an anesthesiologist, and Judith Semo, J.D., a health care attorney and one of ASA’s outside legal counsels; “Strategy for Hospital Contract Renewal in a Subsidy Environment” by Frank A. Rosinia, M.D., an anesthesiologist; “The Future of Anesthesia Practice: A Unified Theory for Anesthesia Group Success” by Mark Weiss, J.D., a legal educator; “Put Fun Into Dysfunction: Improve Group Cohesion” by Will Latham, M.B.A., a health care consultant; and “Customer Service in Anesthesia Practice: Why It Is No Longer Enough Just to Have Good Clinical Outcomes” by Jody Locke, a billing consultant. Two federal attorneys, Gene Rossi, J.D., and Mark Lytle, J.D., will review their activity, “Operation Cotton Candy,” which led to the criminal conviction of a pain practitioner. Orin F. Guidry, M.D., will present his “Report From the ASA President,” and Genie Blough, M.B.A., will present her “Report From the Anesthesia Administrators Assembly.”

The 2006 conference will again include the popular afternoon discussion tables that allow attendees to move among small groups of speakers and practice management experts reviewing specific topics. The conference also will include a preconference mini-course on “Leadership for Anesthesiologists” taught by faculty from the ASA Certificate of Business Administration (CBA) program.

New for the 2006 conference are industry exhibits and a networking event. Thirty exhibitors from the consulting, billing and management industries will present their products and services in the breakfast and break areas. An evening reception with drinks and hors d’oeuvres will allow conference attendees to meet alumni of the CBA program, Committee on Practice Management members and other anesthesiologists interested in practice management.

Robert E. Johnstone, M.D., is Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. He is the Director from West Virginia.