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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 17, 2001 		Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

STATEMENT BY TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Regarding Medicare Requirements on Anesthesia Services

Today, I am announcing that the administration is taking steps to ensure that all Medicare beneficiaries receive the safe, high quality anesthesia services they need. Anesthesia services are a crucial part of modern medicine, and the Medicare program has always been attentive to both the safety and availability of these services for our beneficiaries. Anesthesia services have become much safer in recent years. At the same time, however, states have encountered increasing challenges in providing access to anesthesia services to all their citizens, particularly residents of rural areas or other areas with few anesthesiologists.

The Department will shortly issue a notice asking for a public comment on a rule that would permit a state's governor, after consultation with the state's Boards of Medicine and Nursing, and consistent with state law, to certify that it is in the best interests of the state's citizens to permit Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) to administer anesthesia services without direct physician supervision. Although the federal requirement that CRNAs must work under a physician's supervision would continue to apply generally, the proposed new rule would give states the flexibility to ensure that its citizens receive needed anesthesia services, while also ensuring that such changes can be done safely. We anticipate that this rule will be particularly beneficial to those states with rural or other areas where anesthesiologists are not available. The rule will also propose that the Department undertake a prospective study comparing different state anesthesia practices.

To give the Department an opportunity to consider these refinements to our regulations and gather additional comment, I am today delaying for 180 days the effective date of the January 18 regulation on anesthesia services under Medicare. My goal is to give states flexibility to improve access to anesthesia services, while at the same time ensuring that safety issues have been fully addressed. I look forward to receiving comments and developing a final rule that will serve all Medicare beneficiaries in all regions of the country in the safest and best way possible.

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