Overview

The Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists (MSA), representing about one thousand Massachusetts physician anesthesiologists, has fought a years-long battle to allow some non-anesthesiologists to administer anesthesia on their own and without supervision from a physician. Anesthesiologists have decades of experience and training which have allowed for tremendous gains in patient safety across the country.

Our work

Our team was tasked with blocking state legislation allowing anesthesia care without physician-anesthesiologist involvement. We mobilized the entire MSA membership through traditional and digital organizing, providing them with messaging that distilled the gravity of the danger posed specifically by anesthesia scope-of-practice expansion.  With MSA’s leadership team and other strong members, we conducted targeted educational outreach directly to the most critical decision-makers on health care legislation, including the Joint Committees on Public Health and Health Care Financing, as well as House and Senate leadership.

Results

Though several major omnibus health care bills were passed in Massachusetts over a decade, we were able to hold off on any changes to the scope of practice that would impact anesthesia care. Changes were finally enacted last year during the pandemic, but we were able to dramatically minimize their impact.