Nevada Governor Signs Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant Licensure Bill

CHICAGO – Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law Assembly Bill 270, which authorizes licensure of certified anesthesiologist assistants (CAAs) to provide anesthesia care in the state. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the Nevada State Society of Anesthesiologists (NSSA) applaud this action, which will make the services of CAAs available to Nevada patients.

“This action allows patients to benefit from the highly trained care CAAs already provide in more than 20 jurisdictions,” said Michael W. Champeau, M.D., FAAP, FASA, president of ASA. “CAAs balance and supplement the perioperative anesthesia workforce and actively contribute to better access, increased quality, and improved service line expansion efforts in patient care.”

CAAs are trained extensively in the delivery of quality anesthesia care as well as advanced patient monitoring techniques. They work exclusively under the medical direction of physician anesthesiologists to implement anesthesia care plans within the Anesthesia Care Team (ACT) model of care where there are up to four non-physician anesthesia providers (i.e., CAAs and nurse anesthetists) per anesthesiologist.

All CAAs possess a pre-medical undergraduate education and complete a comprehensive educational and clinical graduate program at the master’s degree level. CAAs are fully recognized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs system.

“Gov. Lombardo’s action will help Nevada keep pace with the growing demand for anesthesia services, while ensuring optimal patient safety under the ACT model of anesthesia care,” said NSSA President and Director Nariman Rahimzadeh, M.D., FASA. “We’d like to express our gratitude to members of the state legislature who worked tirelessly with NSSA to help advance this bill.”

About the American Society of Anesthesiologists
Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 56,000 members organized to advance the practice and secure the future of the medical specialty of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring the involvement of physician anesthesiologists in the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/madeforthismoment. Like ASA on Facebook and follow ASALifeline on Twitter.

###