Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Billing Patterns of Canadian Anesthesiologists over a Decade

Michael J. Tessler, Ian Shrier and Russell J. Steele

Purpose: Over the past decade several authors have focused on the demand for anesthesiologist services. The objective of this article is to determine the clinical work billed by Canadian anesthesiologists at different stages of practice.

Methods: Ten years worth of specialist anesthesiologists' billing data from Jan 1, 1993 to Dec 31, 2002 were obtained from British Columbia (BC), Ontario (Ont), and Quebec (Que). The anesthesiologists were stratified into three age categories (<51, 51-64, and 65+). The number of unique physician - patient interactions and days with submitted billings were extracted for each anesthesiologist in each province.

Results: The median number of anesthesiologists per year over the 10 year period for the <51, 51-64, and 65+ age groups were, respectively, 323, 138, and 51 in Quebec, 476, 235, and 66 in Ont and 225, 83, and 8 in BC. The median number of days with billings per year and unique physician-patient interactions was dependent on the province and lower for the 65+ age group, but were similar for the <51 and 51-64 age groups.

Conclusion: The median number of days with submissions for billing by anesthesiologists is relatively constant until at least 65 years of age and then declines in each province. There is much variability in billing among anesthesiologists between and within the provinces studied. Canadian health care delivery is quite dependent on anesthesiologists 65+ despite the reduced number of days with billings and physician-patient interactions in this age group.