Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)
ASA members can frequently find complete answers
to their questions by referring to materials posted or described
on this website. They are urged to use this option before
seeking specific advice from ASA staff. Staff priority will
be given to member inquiries, and inquiries from non-members
will be handled as expeditiously as other duties permit.
1. Is there a difference
between "medical direction" and "supervision?"
2. Please
send me the Medicare medical direction rules.
3. Can you recommend
a consultant?
4. Where can I find
out the truth about a JCAHO standard?
5. Do you have any
information on contracts?
6. Do you have any
information on anesthesia charges or payments?
7. What
about anesthesiologists' salaries or compensation?
8. Do you have any
information on benchmarking/productivity? E.g., what is
the average number of cases per year?
9. What is the code
/ crosswalk for this procedure? How many units does it have?
1. Is there a difference between "medical
direction" and "supervision?"
There is a difference in the Medicare payment rules. Medical
direction requires the seven steps (like ASA policy) and
pays 100%, split 50-50 between the MD and CRNA. Supervision
applies when the anesthesiologist is involved in more than
4 cases concurrently, or when s/he doesn't meet all the
requirements for medical direction. Payment for supervision
is based on 3 units (plus one additional if the anesthesiologist
participated in induction) for the MD, and the usual 50%
for the CRNA.
2. Please send me the Medicare medical
direction rules.
Medicare Carrier Manual Section 15018 can be downloaded
here. (MS WORD file)
3. Can you recommend a consultant?
ASA does not recommend consultants, but you may request
a list of attorneys, CPAs and other consultants who have
been recommended by at least one ASA member or who are occasional
resources for ASA Practice Management staff by sending an
e-mail message to mail@asawash.org.
and asking for the Consultants List.
4. Where can I find out the truth about
a JCAHO standard?
Please visit the web site at: www.jcaho.org
and/or the ASA JCAHO Compliance Toolkit. at www.asahq.org/toolkit/toolkithome.htm
5. Do you have any information on contracts?
Please see the list of ASA practice management publications
available in our Publications
and Services section.
6. Do you have any information on anesthesia
charges or payments?
The latest survey results were published in the July 2007 Newsletter.
7. What about anesthesiologists' salaries
or compensation?
The Medical Group Management Association www.mgma.com
publishes annual surveys with breakdowns by experience,
size of group, academic/private, geographic region. Similar
data are published periodically by the American Group Management
Association www.amga.org
and by the American Medical Association www.ama-assn.org
(annual update of Physician Marketplace Statistics.)
8. Do you have any information on benchmarking/productivity?
E.g., what is the average number of cases per year?
ASA member and Practice Management Committee Chair
Amr Abouleish, M.D., M.B.A. has published several studies
in Anesthesiology
and in Anesthesia
& Analgesia.
9. What is the code / crosswalk for
this procedure? How many units does it have?
Please be sure to consult the current year's CPT-4™
(www.ama-assn.org)
and/or ASA Relative
Value Guide and/or ASA
Crosswalk . Note that the ASA RVG and Crosswalk
are guides only, and that payers or your own practice may
use different systems.
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