American Anesthesiology acquires Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants

American Anesthesiology, a subsidiary of MEDNAX, Inc., (NYSE: MD) today announced the acquisition of Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants, P.A., a physician group practice that provides anesthesia care and pain management services at nine hospitals, 12 ambulatory surgery centers and 10 pain management centers principally located in the Charlotte, NC, metropolitan area.

“We're looking forward to working as part of American Anesthesiology because we have a shared focus on delivering high-quality patient care, patient safety and patient satisfaction as our primary mission”

Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants (SAC) is a 90-member physician group practice that provides anesthesia services at eight of the 32 hospitals within Carolinas HealthCare System, the nation's second-largest not-for-profit healthcare system, including the system's largest hospital, Carolinas Medical Center. Since its inception in 1981, SAC has provided anesthesia services at the 874-bed Carolinas Medical Center, a quaternary regional referral facility that includes a Level I trauma center, transplant, a regional cancer program, neurologic and orthopedic surgery and other high acuity care.

In addition, the practice provides anesthesia services at 11 ambulatory surgery centers in the Charlotte metropolitan area, which includes part of South Carolina, as well as one facility in Virginia Beach, VA. Annual anesthesia volume at the practice is approximately 111,000 cases.

The group also provides services at 10 pain management centers throughout metropolitan Charlotte with annual volume of approximately 50,000 patient visits.

The group employs eight physician assistants and six certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) who work with the physicians. The physicians practice under an anesthesia care-team model that includes other CRNAs who are hospital employed. SAC also has approximately 45 additional clinical and administrative employees.

MEDNAX's American Anesthesiology has grown to more than 620 anesthesia providers, including more than 275 physicians and 345 CRNAs and anesthesia assistants practicing in five metropolitan areas in the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia, with administrative offices in Raleigh, NC, and Sunrise, FL.

"We're looking forward to working as part of American Anesthesiology because we have a shared focus on delivering high-quality patient care, patient safety and patient satisfaction as our primary mission," said Richard L. Gilbert, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants. "Our practice has made considerable investments in clinical quality systems that support our key relationships with our hospital partners and surgeons by optimizing patient outcomes. As part of MEDNAX's larger group practice we'll be able to collaborate with other anesthesia groups to have a greater impact on anesthesia care across the country."

SAC developed the Quantum Clinical Navigation System, which is used by all of the practice's anesthesia care providers to collect data on a total of 50 discrete patient quality, patient satisfaction and care efficiency measures. This information is then used to improve patient outcomes and to identify areas for healthcare cost reduction.

Since developing Quantum, SAC has become a recognized leader in evaluating anesthesia outcomes data. The group is participating in a pilot project developed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Anesthesia Quality Institute to develop a national anesthesia clinical outcomes registry. American Anesthesiology expects to merge the clinical data accumulated at each of its practices into a common, non-identified clinical data warehouse to be used to improve patient outcomes. In addition, SAC has been able to use data from Quantum to establish pay-for-performance incentives as part of its commercial managed care contracting.

The acquisition of SAC was for cash, and the operations of SAC are expected to contribute annual earnings per share of approximately 25 cents, based on SAC's historical operations.