Menu
Menu
ASA’s Analytics and Research Services (ARS) collects, maintains and analyzes a wide array of health care data; and publishes periodic The Curious Economist articles in the ASA Monitor column, and summary studies. The data collected include Medicare claims, hospital data from the American Hospital Association and Medicare Cost Reports, and manpower data from the NPI Registry maintained by the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System.
ASA’s Center for Anesthesia Workforce Studies (CAWS) was established January 2017 within ARS. CAWS conducts and supports informed anesthesia workforce research to improve policy and planning at state and national levels. CAWS provides analyses based on multiple data sources to address critical workforce issues in anesthesia and perioperative services, including education and training, geographic distribution and access, trends in supply and demand, care delivery models, and the impact of anesthesia-related group practices and alternative organizational models.
(Member-exclusive)
Where Are They? A Look at New Anesthesia Professionals Billing Medicare (March 2022)
How Much Does That Non-Physician Anesthetist Cost? (January 2022)
Goldilocks, the Devil, and Physician Supply and Demand (September 2021)
Market Concentration in Health Care (June 2021)
Assessing Returns on Investment in Education and Training (April 2021)
The Health Care Cost Elephant (October 2020)
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Equity – Not So Easy Does It (December 2020)
The Demand for Medical Care (August 2020)
(Member-exclusive)
Anesthesiology Residency Matches Hit Record High for Fifth Year in a Row (August 2021)
Anesthesiology Programs Continue Record-Setting Matches in 2020 (September 2020)
2019 Update: Anesthesiology Continues Its Upward Trend of Residency Matches (September 2019)
Revival of Reporting Anesthesiology Residency Trends (August 2018)
Critique of February 2015 Duke University Nursing Economic Impact Study (pdf)
Technical Appendix (pdf)
Evidence-Based Review Did Not Find Nurse Anesthetists' Care Equal to that of Physician Anesthesiologists (pdf) (July 2014, Vol 2, Issue 4)
Patients Cared for by the Veterans Health Administration Present Unique Challenges to Health Care Providers (pdf) (April 2014, Vol 2, Issue 3)
Lack of Clinical Direction from Physician Anesthesiologists Associated with Higher Patient Mortality (pdf) (January 2014, Vol 2, Issue 2)
Critical Access Hospitals May Lack Resources Necessary for High-Quality Care (pdf) (January 2014, Vol 2, Issue 1)
Validity Issues Harm Study Funded by Nurse Anesthetists (pdf) (August 2013, Vol 1, Issue 2)
Anesthesiology: A History of Value (pdf) (August 2013, Vol 1, Issue 1)
Prior to the establishment of the Center for Anesthesia Workforce Studies, the ASA Monitor included a column called Policy Matters. These covered various topics related to health services and health policy research relevant to ASA.
Health Workforce Projections: Caveat Emptor (April 2017)
ASA Health Policy Research: 2016 Year in review, and a Name Change (January 2017)
Trends in Ambulatory Surgery Centers: A Result of Myriad Forces (August 2016)
The Use of Income, Education and Race Data in Health Services Research (February 2016)
Trends in Number of Medicare Anesthesia Claims by Facility Setting, 1994-2014 (December 2015)
The Volume-Outcomes Relationship in Surgery: So Much Research, So Few Answers (October 2015)
Revisiting the 2014 American Medical Association Physician Economic Impact Study (July 2015)
Surgical Procedure Volume in the United States, 2011 and 2013 (April 2015)
Research Potpourri: Lessons From 2014 Session on Investigators in Health Services Research in Anesthesiology (February 2015)
The Importance and Value of Member Participation in Research Surveys (October 2014)
Comparing NACOR and Medicare: The Importance of Co-Validation and Using Multiple Data Sources (August 2014)
Finding Policy Relevance in Lists of "Best" Hospitals (June 2014)
10-Year Trends in Supply of Anesthesiologists (April 2014)
Hospitalists in Community Hospitals (February 2014)
VA Medical Centers: Research in Waiting (December 2013)
Applying Research to Practice: The Promise and Challenge of CER (October 2013)
People Matters: Challenges in Workforce Analysis to Inform Health Policy (August 2013)
Take Steps Now to Enhance Research on Future Value-Based Initiatives (June 2013)
The Call for Health Services and Health Policy Research (April 2013)
If you have suggestions for future column topics, please let us know at [email protected].
Several analyses and reports are for ASA internal purposes and to support a specific ASA committee. However, many studies and publications will be made available to all ASA members. Selected ARS publications are listed below.
Below are some of ARS’s favorite website links for health care information. There are many other resources that ARS recommends relating to more technical aspects of health services and health policy research (e.g., econometrics, SAS® and Stata® programming). If you have any questions regarding health care information or research-related resources, or have a favorite link related to health services and health policy research, let us know at [email protected].
|
Information on health care costs and utilization and medical expenditures through two databases: » The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) AHRQ also provides resources on clinical effectiveness and clinical practice guidelines here. |
|
|
Hospital utilization and financial information based on Medicare Cost Report data. |
|
|
Free hospital information including bed size, admissions, births, and OP visits are available through its “free hospital lookup” feature. Click Here. |
|
|
The AQI is the home of the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR). The vision of the AQI is to become the primary source of information for quality improvement in the clinical practice of anesthesiology. |
|
|
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), of the Centers for Disease Control |
Prevalence and Trend data are available through a tool at this here. |
|
Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. |
|
|
Provides statistical information for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Detailed information by beneficiary type and state is available through the Medicare and Medicaid Statistical Supplement. |
|
|
The U.S. Census Bureau’s mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy |
|
|
Nonpartisan center that conducts health policy research and analysis focused on the U.S. health care system. |
|
|
An overview of and resources related to Comparative Effectiveness Research |
|
|
The Dartmouth Atlas Project has documented variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. |
|
|
FAER is an ASA related organization whose mission is to advance medicine through education and research in anesthesiology. |
|
|
HCUPnet is a free, on-line query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). It provides access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization. |
|
|
Quality of care and patient satisfaction at over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals across the country. Similar data is available for physicians. |
|
|
State statistics on cancer incidence rates and mortality are available at this here. |
|
|
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), of the Centers for Disease Control |
Births and deaths by state are released through the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) Data on utilization of health resources are released through the National Health Care Surveys (NHCS) |
|
The NIH, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency—making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. |
|
|
PCORI is authorized by Congress to conduct research to provide information about the best available evidence to help patients and their health care providers make more informed decisions. |
|
|
A nonprofit institution that conducts research and analysis. Documents related to health care can be found here. |
|
|
State Health Facts is maintained by the Kaiser Family Foundation and provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the United States, counties, territories, and other geographies. |
|
|
Rankings of best hospitals by specialty. Includes basic information for each hospital from AHA annual survey and patient satisfaction data from federal HospitalCompare website. |
