Meetings Related to Operating Room and Anesthesia Service Management

There are several meetings that are important in understanding operating room and anesthesia service management:

This meeting, Education in Operating Room Management, is given by Franklin Dexter, MD of the University of Iowa. It gives a basic understanding of why's and how's of operating room management. It also covers such issues as subsidy determination which can be useful in negotiation between anesthesia groups and facilities.
The Levinson Institute has a number of seminars and meetings relating to leadership and change management focused on healthcare. These excellent courses are quite intense and focus on central concepts of the role of the individual in change and the establishment of accountablity in healthcare organizations.
The American College of Physician Executives has a number of educational programs and publications that relate to all physicians, not just anesthesia professionals. They have several well attended meetings each years and some of the information is available on-line.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists has an active and excellent focus on anesthesia practice management with a number of highly regarded meetings and publications. Its annual Conference of Practice Management Conference is always well attended and has excellent speakers
The Greely Company has a large number of programs related to medical staff issues. They too have several well attended meetings and on-line information related to a healthcare organization's relationship to physicians.

Fellowships

Several fellowships are now offered in the management of perioperative services. Consult these websites for more information.

Other Resources

The American Society of Anesthesiologists provides a consulting service on practice management. This well regarded service has been available for about thrity years. This service is described as "Many of these consultants are well known as speakers at anesthesia meetings across the country, and each is actively involved in patient care. All are thoughtful, experienced clinicians who bring years of experience to the program. It is from this group that two of these individuals are appointed as an Ad Hoc Subcommittee to perform an Anesthesia Consultation. Of course, no one serves as a consultant when such service would involve even the appearance of a conflict of interest."

There are two important points here. The ASA consultants are experienced physicians who are actively providing services, quite unlike many "anesthesia service consutltants" who have very limited clinical or leadership expereince. Unlike AnesthesiaReviews, the ASA Consultant Program does not offer "a caretaker contract" function.