Welcome to Texas Society of Anesthesiologists

It shall be the purpose of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists to advance, promote and support the practice of the medical specialty of Anesthesiology in the State of Texas.

The TSA is a voluntary, non-profit association of over 3300 members interested in the medical specialty of Anesthesiology and it is a component of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

TSA provides CME programs; advocates at the legislative, regulatory and legal arenas; and through its representation at the ASA, TMA and AMA  it insures that TSA’s voice is heard at the state and national levels.

TSA President Dr. Ray Callas

addresses the

43rd Session of the TSA House of Delegates

Read his address (pdf) 

2019 Physician Fee Schedule Updates

By Asa C. Lockhart, MD, MBA

In this installment, I will briefly review the proposed revisions to the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) that will be finalized in November, APM updates, a couple of emerging options for proceduralists, and some "summer surprises."  The conversion factor will be $36.0463 for RBRVS codes and $22.2986 for anesthesia, which is a 0.25% update but offset by a budget neutrality adjustment of -0.12% resulting in an actual 0.13% update.  What a windfall! CMS is proposing to update supply and equipment pricing gradually over four years, create a single indirect practice expense per hour of $136.34 for E/M services, and seeking ways to better reflect specialty and state-level professional liability insurance (PLI) relative values into the PLI RVU component.  There are also proposal requests to recognize and integrate telecommunication between both patients and physicians, removal of the requirement to document medical necessity of providing a home visit rather than in the office, and eliminating the prohibition on same day E/M visits by physicians with the same group or medical specialty. 

Read the rest of the article

Anesthesia News of Interest

CHRISTUS Spohn Health System recently terminated its contract with Gulf Shore Anesthesiology, a group of 30 physician anesthesiologists and 15 nurse anesthetists, who provided anesthesia services for the patients of CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi for over 60 years. CHRISTUS Spohn replaced that group with EmergencHealth, LLC. 

In a memorandum announcing the selection of EmergencHealth as the contracted anesthesia provider for CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, Justin Doss, President, described EmergencHealth as a ". . . national firm with ties to local providers."  According to filings with the Texas Secretary of State, EmergencHealth, LLC was formed on May 2, 2017 by Dr. Erich S. Schoen-Kiewert, a family practice/emergency physician practicing in Corpus Christi.  Later in 2017, Dr. Jeffrey Link, a Dallas emergency physician with a specialty in pulmonary medicine was named manager of the company and its registered office was moved to a law firm in Dallas.  But, the mailing address of EmergencHealth was last reported as a residence in Southlake, Texas.

According to information published on the Texas Medical Board website, neither Dr. Schoen-Kiewert nor Dr. Link have practiced the medical specialty of anesthesiology.  EmergencHealth, LLC advertises a specialty in anesthesiology. Read More