Anesthesia groups are increasingly insisting on contracts built on revenue guarantees. The share of ASCs expecting to pay anesthesia stipends jumped from 28% in 2024 to 44% in 2025, according to a VMG Health report , a 57% increase in a single year.
“It seems almost counterintuitive for both parties long term since essentially the anesthesia groups are asking the ASC’s to take on 100% of the anesthesia financial risk without the upside potential,” Monte Goldstein, MD, chief medical officer of Virtua Health ASC Joint Ventures in Ramsey, N.J., told Becker’s . “Long-term I believe the principles of the ASC will demand control of all aspects of anesthesia operations if they are taking on all of the financial risk of anesthesia coverage.”
Peter Bravos, MD, chief medical officer of Sutter Health Surgery Center Division in Sacramento, Calif., said subsidies should come with conditions.
“Paying stipends without changing the operating model only accepts that leverage as permanent,” Dr. Bravos said.
He recommended tying subsidies to “block utilization, guaranteed hours, on time starts, and reliability,” and said those agreements carry more weight when negotiated regionally instead of center ...