Participate in the 2018 Conversion Factor Survey

When you visit the ASA Monitor homepage, you will see that the articles that present the results of the annual ASA Surveys for Commercial Fees Paid for Anesthesia Services are always in the list of most viewed articles. That demonstrates just how valuable the information from these surveys is to an anesthesia practice. ASA recently launched the 16th annual survey and we encourage your participation. The survey results are presented each fall in the ASA Monitor providing timely access to the results.

Healthcare is becoming increasingly complex and there are many demands on your time and attention. It does take a bit of time to compile the information needed to complete this survey – but this is where your practice administrator or billing service comes in. They can complete this survey on your behalf!

Information to have on hand includes:

1. The five commercial payers from whom you receive the greatest percentage of your managed care business.
2. The contracted conversion factor for those payers.
3. Information about how the payer calculates time.
4. Whether the payer pays for physical status or qualifying circumstances.

The survey also includes questions about the number of FTEs in the practice, whether you have any flat fee arrangements for any specific anesthesia services and, new this year, questions about how the ASA Relative Value Guide® and CROSSWALK® help a practice and how they could be of more help.

Participation by more practices provides higher quality data and allows for more specific presentation of the results. One of the most frequently asked questions we receive about this survey is why we cannot publish results for all states. Presenting survey results by state is dependent on having enough anesthesia practices in each state participate. If we were to obtain a sufficient number of responses to meet the criteria noted below, we could possibly publish results at the GEOZIP level in the future. To conduct this survey in compliance with Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requirements, the following conditions must be met:

1. There are at least five providers reporting data upon which each disseminated statistic is based, and
2. No individual provider’s data represents more than 25% on a weighted basis of that statistic, and
3. Any information disseminated is sufficiently aggregated such that it would not allow recipients to identify the prices charged or compensation paid by any particular provider.

Because the survey and posted results are constructed to be compliant with the principles established by the DOJ and FTC, the information gathered is safe for you to use as you determine necessary in your practice and payer relations. For example, many groups find the information helpful when negotiating with hospital administration.

Information is Power! The survey provides benchmarks that you can use to see how your practice compares with others in your geographic area as well as against national averages. The compendium of survey results can also show how the landscape has changed over the years allowing you to determine how your practice is tracking with those trends.

The survey will remain open until July 13, 2018 and is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018_CF_Survey.

The 2016 survey results were based on responses from 204 practices in 41 states. The 2017 results reflected data from 221 practices from 42 states. Let’s continue to build those numbers for 2018. Help strengthen the ASA commercial conversion factor survey – and its use to you—by participating in this year’s efforts.

Tools to make it easier for you to participate:

• If you would like to review the questions to make sure you have all the information you need to complete them, click here for a pdf of the survey tool. (please go to the Survey Monkey link to enter your responses)
• If you represent multiple practices, contact Sharon Merrick at [email protected] for a tool that can help facilitate that level of participation.