Colorado Opts Out of the Federal Physician Supervision Requirement

Today, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) expressed its grave disappointment with the election-year decision of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to exempt his state from Medicare’s longstanding patient safety standard providing for physician oversight of anesthesia services. This decision replaces physicians with nurses. In taking this action, the Governor ignored scientific evidence regarding patient safety and Colorado citizens’ overwhelming preference for physician involvement in the delivery of anesthesia to needlessly put Colorado patients at risk. The Governor’s decision comes despite tremendous opposition from Colorado and national physician and patient organizations including the ASA, its State Component Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) , the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, and the Scope of Practice Partnership which includes the ASA and other national medical groups such as the American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association, American College of Surgeons, among many other state medical societies and medical specialties. These organizations rallied together to oppose the governor’s short-sighted decision.

Reflecting its longstanding commitment to anesthesia patient safety, ASA partnered with the CSA to organize an aggressive grassroots campaign in Colorado to oppose Governor Ritter’s effort to weaken the state’s patient safety standards. The ASA and CSA worked closely with the other organizations to explain to the Governor the level of patient safety risk assumed in an opt-out state. An important component of ASA’s outreach included a well-received patient-centered radio and print ad campaign that encouraged concerned patients to speak out. The campaign garnered the attention of a number of  media outlets across the state of Colorado.

Governor Ritter,  a “lame duck” governor,  issued a letter last month to the medical and nursing communities stating that he was “of the opinion that opting- out of the federal supervision rules for anesthesia services in rural areas could help ensure their affordability and accessibility, without sacrificing the quality of care patients receive.” Despite compelling evidence to the contrary as well as strong patient opposition, the Governor still acted to eliminate the over 40 year old Medicare patient safety standard needlessly putting thousands of Coloradans at risk.

The ASA and CSA remain strongly committed to ensuring patient access to safe physician-led anesthesia and they are currently considering other alternatives to reverse the governor’s ill-advised decision. ASA will keep members apprised of future developments in this issue.