HCFA lifts supervision of nurse anesthetists

Anesthesiologists decry HCFA's decision to rescind a requirement for physician supervision over nurse anesthetists as a blow to patient safety; nurses say it's good policy.

By Jane Cys, AMNews staff. Feb. 5, 2001.

Washington -- The Health Care Financing Administration has released a controversial rule eliminating a three-decade-old Medicare policy that requires physicians to supervise nurse anesthetists.

The effective date of the rule remained unclear at press time, however, because President Bush issued an executive order that gives his newly installed officials time to review all of the last-minute regulations that former President Clinton released.

Implementation of the regulation, originally set for mid-March, may be put off, depending on how Bush's directive is interpreted.

Bush should permanently reverse Clinton's action because, among other things, the lack of a federal physician supervision standard would put seniors at risk, said Neil Swissman, MD, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

"I'm really outraged that [Clinton] would sacrifice the safety of senior citizens by putting this rule forward and putting it forward for political reasons," Dr. Swissman said. "It bothers me that safety and science were totally ignored."

The American Assn. of Nurse Anesthetists hailed the Clinton administration's action as "smart health care policy" and said it would give rural and inner-city hospitals greater staffing flexibility.

AANA's president, Larry Hornsby, CRNA, said the association wasn't surprised by Bush's action. He noted that HCFA has spent more than three years reviewing and studying the issue. "We're very optimistic that, in the final analysis, this rule will go forth as published," Hornsby said. [...]