Expert Details
Anesthesiology, Pediatric Critical Care, Regional Anesthesia, General Anesthesia, Acute Pain Mgmt.
ID: 727117
Minnesota, USA
He set up and served as Medical Director of a Pediatric Critical Care Unit in a large metropolitan hospital. He works closely with surgeons and intensivists to coordinate and manage airway issues, acute post-operative pain, and vascular access problems.
In addition to this clinical background Expert has provided expert witness testimony and has prepared detailed analysis of medico-legal issues related to anesthesia, particularly pediatric anesthesia complications.
Expert has extensive experience with Billing and Coding for Anesthesia, and has been intimately involved in Compliance issues related to anesthesiology, Medicare rules and regulations, conversion factors, base units, supervision ratios and all aspects of practice management. He has worked extensively with CRNA's in the Team Delivery Model. He has a fundamental understanding of the limitations of CRNA's versus MD Anesthesiologists. In addition, he has modeled and projected costs and risks related to implementation of anesthesia services across a large hospital and day surgery network. His administrative responsibilities as President of a large anesthesiology group allowed him to participate in negotiations with third party payers, hospital administrators and other health care professionals.
One area of interest that is non-clinical in nature, but at the heart of many problems in large practices is the concept of equity and the equitable distribution of revenue and time-off in situations where multiple physicians are working in different areas and at different times of day. He has experience in not only reaching an understanding of the differences in the type and quantity of work, but also, and as importantly, in explaining and possibly selling a concept to a large group struggling with divisions of labor and revenue.
Finally, Expert has extensive experience in setting up intra-departmental systems that improve Quality of Care, Compliance, Medical Record keeping and efficiency.
He is asked to consider the death of a child following an oral surgery procedure. He reviews the case and renders an opinion of the relative liability of the oral surgeon. He reviews the literature in order to provide background information for a defense. He counsels the defense attorney on all the medical aspects of the case, and concludes that the case should be settled.He is asked to consider the death of a child during a surgical procedure. He reviews the case and submits a detailed analysis of the time-line. He critically analyzes actions, points out areas of weakness for the defense team. He accurately (in retrospect) predicts the outcome of the litigation that ended in a jury award for the appellant.He is asked to develop a protocol for system-wide adoption of medical records compliance. He develops the system and follows it to fruition.He is asked to find new business management for a group of anesthesiologists. He pursues this to completion and oversees changes in billing and coding, including the transition from outside coders to physicians coding in real time. Adopts auditing procedures to ensure compliance with protocols. Provides feedback and shows improvement in overall documentation error rates and compliance measures.He is asked to map out a call system for four integrated centers, to project call loads, hours, and based on historical data project relative changes in hours worked. After receiving feedback from the group he creates options for the various call centers to allow more flexibility in scheduling. He adopts a computerized call-swapping system. He works with management to develop a buy-sell rate to allow physicians to trade hours of work for hours of vacation. He projects the groups growth requirements based on surgical volume and creates a model that allows for adjustments going forward.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1981 | Degree: M.D. | Subject: Medicine | Institution: University of Minnesota Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis |
| Year: 1985 | Degree: Residency | Subject: Pediatrics | Institution: University of Minnesota Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis |
| Year: 1989 | Degree: Residency | Subject: Anesthesiology | Institution: University of Minnesota Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis |
| Year: 1990 | Degree: Fellowship | Subject: Pediatric Anesthesia | Institution: University of Washington, Seattle, Children's Medical Ctr. |
| Year: 1977 | Degree: BA | Subject: Chemistry, Psychology | Institution: St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 1990 to 2009 | Employer: Anesthesiology, PA | Title: Anesthesiologist/Partner | Department: |
Responsibilities:He is a full-time clinical anesthesiologist at a major metropolitan hospital with a level 1 trauma program, obstetrics, full complement of surgical sub-specialties. |
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Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| He has consulted with medical defense attorneys in cases involving complications of anesthesia in children. He served as a professional consultant to the primary defense attorney, providing detailed analysis of the case and rendered opinions about the quality of care, likely causation, procedural analysis, error analysis, and a thorough review of the pertinent literature where indicated. In addition, he has extensive experience with charting and medical record issues as they relate to litigation. His analysis is unbiased and, occasionally, brutally honest. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| AMA, ASA, MSA, HCMS |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| MD Board Certified, American Board of Anesthesiologists |
Fields of Expertise
anesthesia, anesthesia equipment, anesthesia monitoring, anesthesiology, clinical anesthesiology, general anesthesia, general anesthetic, inhalation general anesthesia, intratracheal anesthesia, intravenous anesthesia, local anesthesia, local anesthetic, regional anesthesia, trauma anesthesia, critical care anesthesiology, obstetrical analgesia, pain medication, obstetric anesthesia, pediatric anesthesiology, obstetric anesthesiology, pediatric critical care, practice group management, medical practice management, obstetric surgical procedure, analgesia, pain management, medical science