A friend recently forwarded this discussion to me, and I’m happy to jump in.
I’m a past president and one of the long-time managing partners for Group Anesthesia Services (GAS) in Los Gatos, CA. GAS formed the inaugural anesthesia practice when we joined CEP America in December 2014. Since then, I’ve served as the Director of Operations for CEP’s anesthesiology practice line.
My former group recognized the expanding services expected from anesthesia groups and made the proactive decision to join CEP with 3 major goals in mind:
• Acquire tools that will help us deliver more effective care
• Develop programs that support and preserve our relationships with facilities
• Preserve our roles as owners of our local practice
These goals aligned with the core values of CEP’s democratic partnership, where success is driven as much by our commitment to our fellow physician partners as by our commitment to our patients. As one of the newer specialties in CEP, there’s no doubt we’ve experienced some growing pains as infrastructure has been adapted and built for anesthesiologists. Throughout this process, however, the CEP values of servant leadership, democracy, and transparency for our partners have affirmed our decision to join an organization that reflects the culture and values we previously embraced as a single specialty practice.
Modern healthcare’s mantra of “better patient care, broader delivery of care, more cost effective care” fails to acknowledge something just as important – providing a rewarding and satisfying environment for us, the clinicians providing care. We’re all living in a period where disruptive forces challenge us to improve healthcare with diminishing resources. Those challenges are amplified when high acuity hospitals offer little financial resources, but expect us to build a practice from the ground up. So, yes, there are challenges at some locations. However, as a physician partnership, we are committed to providing the financial resources, leadership, and education for anesthesiologists to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. As a democratic organization equally owned by over 2000 physicians, we empower every one of our partners and employees to create the vision of a better CEP and to contribute to achieving that vision.
Continued success depends on our ability to recruit and support the next generation of clinicians and physician leaders. Direct and candid comments, like those shared on this blog, offer valuable insight on where perception may stray from reality. I welcome personal communication with anyone to help address these misperceptions. And, where we’ve failed to recognize weaknesses and opportunities for improvement, I appreciate the feedback and commit myself to fixing them.
Peter Nosé, MD
[email protected]