Navigating today’s anesthesia market is a complex challenge confronting many healthcare leaders. With anesthesiologist shortages projected to exceed 8,000 providers by 2037, stabilizing and strengthening the anesthesia workforce has become a strategic priority.
During a recent Becker’s Healthcare Virtual Anesthesia Conference, Medicus hosted an informative panel discussion, titled 'Leading Change in Anesthesia: Actionable Strategies for Program Stability,' with three prominent healthcare leaders:
During the session, these leaders shared firsthand perspectives on the anesthesia market and insights into how their healthcare organizations are laying the groundwork for long-term program stability. Here are their key takeaways from the session:
Anesthesia staffing challenges are here to stay.
When panelists were asked about the anesthesia market, three descriptions stood out: disrupted, long-term, and unlikely to go away anytime soon. Their perspectives reflected a range of system-level and workforce factors that continue to influence anesthesia coverage across care settings.
Speaking to the impact of mergers and acquisitions, Dr. Fagin noted, “Private practice groups are sometimes displaced, and care team models are implemented, which drives a lot of change that some people didn't expect or anticipate.” These shifts, while part of broader organizational strategies, can create ripple effects across the department. “It leads to significant staffing shortages,” he added, “and we all struggle with how do you bring people back to rebuild departments.”
That rebuilding effort is further complicated by pipeline constraints.“We graduate about 2,000 anesthesiology residents every year into their various programs," Dr. Roke explained, "but we’re losing about 2,500 anesthesiologists every year.” While CRNAs provide essential coverage, he noted that the long-term challenge is recruitment and retention, especially in rural and underserved areas.
Despite the complexity of these challenges, the most immediate and visible impact for many health systems is reduced patient access. “We’ve heard some health systems truncating about 50% of their procedural volume just because of the anesthesia provider shortage,” said Dr. Boles. In some markets, surgical groups have disbanded after failing to secure anesthesia coverage. “These aren’t truly elective cases,” he said. “So, they end up in our emergency departments and challenge our ability to care for them on the acute side of things.”
Culture is the foundation of recruitment and retention.
Culture was described as the most powerful lever for achieving long-term stability. Compensation may open the door, but culture determines whether providers walk through it and stay.
At Saint Louis University, Dr. Roke’s team uses a simple principle: “Let’s build the department you want to work in.” Anesthesiologists, CRNAs, and AAs are involved in operational decisions, which have helped foster alignment across anesthesia, surgical, nursing, and administrative teams. “We’re really forming a team to take care of the patients,” he said. “Keeping the patient focus has been key to helping us rebuild.”
At Salem Health, Dr. Boles shared how his team structured its model around flexibility. “We say life-work balance, that’s what’s most important, it seems like, to our recruits and so we capped our hours worked per week, we have a generous sign on and retention bonus, we try to be market leading in those areas,” explained Dr. Boles “because these new graduates and those looking for jobs have so many choices to choose from.”
At all three organizations, culture served as the connective tissue between clinical priorities and workforce sustainability. Dr. Fagin put it simply, “If you don’t have the right culture, it doesn’t matter. People won’t stay.”
Implementing anesthesia care team models requires clear communication.
Anesthesia care team models are being implemented in health systems across the country; however, success may depend on how these models are introduced. Without clear communication, even well-designed structures may face resistance or questioning from clinical peers.
At Endeavor Health, Dr. Fagin encountered early skepticism when moving from a physician-only model to a care team approach. “They think you’re getting an inferior product because staff don’t have an MD after their name,” he said. Addressing those perceptions required consistent outreach, especially with surgical leadership and perioperative staff.
At Salem Health, Dr. Boles emphasized the value of starting small. “We literally started with one (CRNA), then added number two, then three, and so on,” he said. The gradual rollout gave teams time to adjust and gave leadership a forum to address concerns. “We used town hall formats to slowly introduce them. By the last town hall, they weren’t asking anything about CRNAs. They were asking about throughput and turnover times.”
When introduced with clarity and communication, anesthesia care team models can strengthen program stability, improve collaboration, and support long-term workforce alignment.
Internal training pipelines are becoming essential for sustainable anesthesia coverage.
With the decreasing supply of anesthesia providers, particularly anesthesiologists, health systems are shifting away from reactive hiring and towards proactive pipeline development. All three panelists described strategies for developing internal pipelines that support both staffing needs and cultural alignment.
At Endeavor Health, senior SRNAs are introduced to the system’s culture and team structure early on. “Since July of last year, we’ve had nine senior SRNAs come through, and of those nine, we’ve already had three sign on to become employed providers,” said Dr. Fagin. By investing in early exposure and team alignment, the organization is seeing measurable success in converting trainees into full-time providers.
At Saint Louis University, internal development spans multiple levels. Dr. Roke’s team partners with the CRNA programs in his area, launched a new anesthesiology assistant program, and is expanding its residency. These efforts are designed to ensure readiness for inevitable staffing shifts.“Even if you’re fully staffed now, someone is going to move. Something is going to happen,” he said. “You always need to be in recruiting mode.”
At Salem Health, the team has focused on building early relationships with potential recruits through creative outreach. “We’ve hosted virtual job fairs, we’ve done some out-of-the-box thinking with these programs,” said Dr. Boles. “All it took was that first one to share their testimony on how much they’ve enjoyed our program.”
Having an interim healthcare staffing partner can help with anesthesia program stability.
Each panelist faced different anesthesia staffing challenges, yet all partnered with the Medicus Transition Program to restore stability during moments of disruption. That interim support became a starting point for longer-term strategies centered on culture, training, and team alignment. Their shared message was clear: building a sustainable anesthesia program is not about quick fixes. It requires committed leadership, ongoing investment, and partners who can help organizations manage complexity as the market continues to evolve.
Interested in learning more about the Anesthesia Provider Shortage and actionable strategies for overcoming it? Complete the short form below to download the complete report.
Explore the Anesthesia Provider Shortage
Explore the Anesthesia Provider Shortage
