Bigger Is Better, Even In Anesthesia

This is a cautionary for all anesthesia practices and residents evaluating anesthesia groups to join after graduation. Olean General Hospital in New York has just informed its anesthesia providers, Southern Tier Anesthesiologists, that it has decided to go with a different group for their anesthesia needs. Bye bye. And don't let the door hit you on the way out.

What's particularly galling is that STA had no conflicts with the hospital prior to them seeking proposals from others. STA members asked directly if there were any issues with their work and the hospital denied any work or personality conflicts. Ultimately the work contract was awarded to another anesthesia group out of Buffalo who were willing to work for less money.

STA had been OGH's exclusive anesthesia providers for 24 years. And OGH has been the exclusive hospital to STA for the last fifteen. Unfortunately they may just have been too small to compete with groups that are much larger and have economies of scale. STA only has six anesthesiologists and two CRNA's. Meanwhile, hospitals and insurance companies are merging at a furious pace. OGH is part of a much larger hospital group, Kaleida Health. When large corporations start running hospitals, loyalty takes a back seat to the bottom line.

For the anesthesiologists in STA, the future looks bleak. It's unclear if they will be absorbed by the Buffalo group if they are willing to work for less money. Otherwise, there are no other hospitals within an hour drive and the physicians will have to move away to find other jobs.

While it may be desirable to work in quaint small towns with Mayberry quality lifestyles, medicine isn't practiced like the 1950's anymore. Corporate medicine is creeping into even the smallest medical practices. I've had personal friends who thought they found the perfect anesthesia jobs after residency. Then one day, they show up for work and find out their hospital has negotiated with a different anesthesia group willing to work for less money. They were suddenly unemployed. Devastating.

In order to compete, doctors will need to team up or get run out of town by companies with billions of dollars in revenue and no compunction to fire staff at will if it helps their stock holders. I wish all the luck to the members of Southern Tier Anesthesiologists in their careers and hope they land somewhere that will provide a more stable job environment for themselves and their families.