|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
GEN -unsupervised CRNA'SFrom: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)Mon Mar 27 08:55:41 2000
Just curious as to the group's take on this latest cost-saving measure by our friends at HCFA - HCFA to OK unsupervised nurse anesthetists, but controversy continues By Karen Pallarito WESTPORT, Mar 27 (Reuters Health) - A proposed rule allowing nurse anesthetists to administer anesthesia to Medicare patients without physician supervision is now expected to become final this June. Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, recently confirmed in a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), that the administration intends to finalize the regulation by June. But more than two years after HCFA first proposed scrapping the supervision requirement, anesthesiologists remain up in arms over the looming change. Spearheading opposition to the rule is the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), which last week urged Congress once again to intervene in the matter. The ANA cites University of Pennsylvania research showing a higher death rate in cases in which an anesthesiologist was not involved in supervising the nurse anesthetist. "It is obvious now that all concern for patient safety has been lost to bureaucracy," contends Dr. Ronald A. MacKensie, president of the 35,000-member ANA. "HCFA is saying that it has made this proposal based on reasoning that anesthesia is 'relatively safe' now and that there is no evidence to compare the differences between anesthesiologists' care and nurses' care. That reasoning is dangerously flawed." As Reuters Health has reported, HCFA's December 1997 proposal called for deleting the requirement that certified registered nurse anesthetists administer anesthesia only under the supervision of an operating practitioner or anesthesiologist. The change, HCFA said, would "allow greater flexibility to hospitals and practitioners" and "give deference to state scope of practice law." Twenty-nine states now allow nurse anesthetists to provide anesthesia without a doctor's supervision. The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, a chief proponent of the change, last week reiterated its support. "HCFA's decision supports what the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists has been saying all along--that CRNAs provide safe, high-quality anesthesia care," according to AANA President Jan Stewart. In an interview with Reuters Health, Stewart questioned the applicability of the study cited by the anesthesiologists as evidence of poorer outcomes and said that she believes the real issue is one of "control." -Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 Art
-- art fougner, md
|
|
Return to
|
Mail a New Message to the Forum: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net Forum Administrator: geffrey.klein@obgyn.net Report Technical Problems: webmaster@obgyn.net Last Updated: Mon Nov 2 04:43:51 2009 |
The American Medical Association is no longer designating CME hours for AMA Category II CME credit. However, physicians themselves may self designate learning activities as Category II CME credit hours if they feel it is of sufficient educational merit and meets the formal definitions of continuing medical education. OBGYN.net believes these interaction in this forum meets these criteria. For further information see the AMA web site.