Please join concerned Marylanders in urging your legislator to oppose HB1558/SB 951- Anesthesiologist Assistants Licensing. Maryland’s healthcare system already has an anesthesia workforce that delivers care across our state, including in rural and underserved communities. Introducing Anesthesiologist Assistants (AAs) to Maryland would increase costs, add regulatory risk, and put pressure on the training pipeline without expanding access.
Top 3 reasons why Anesthesiologist Assistants are bad for Maryland’s healthcare system.
- Increased Healthcare Costs without Added Patient Benefit Because AAs require supervision by a physician-anesthesiologist, their use requires redundant staffing and paying two anesthesia providers for a single patient, increasing costs to Marylanders and insurers without evidence of improved safety, quality, or access to care compared to CRNAs.
- Heightened Regulatory and Medicare Compliance Risk. The federally mandated medical-direction requirements tied to AA practice are frequently difficult to maintain in real-world clinical settings, exposing hospitals and providers to billing denials and Medicare compliance risks that do not exist when anesthesia care is delivered by CRNAs.
- Harm to Maryland’s CRNA training pipeline: Allowing AAs to practice in Maryland will directly reduce available clinical training sites for students training in Maryland facilities, because AAs will displace CRNA preceptors and force competition for high-acuity cases.
We need you to take action to let our elected leaders know you oppose HB1558/SB 951- Anesthesiologist Assistants Licensing.
