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About the RestAnesthesia Performance, Leadership, & Business Author: Joe Rodriguez
I'm Joe Rodriguez, CRNA. After co-hosting the podcast Anesthesia Deconstructed for years, I kept running into the same problem. I was told that if I stayed clinically excellent and kept my head down, the rest would take care of itself. If you're reading this, you know all too well IT DOES NOT. Unfortunately, time and time again, I discovered that the most impactful tools to leverage throughout my career in anesthesia (e.g. money, influence, deal negotiations, power) are never taught to us in school or in practice. I had to pick it all up at dinners, off the record, wherever the valuable conversations take place but go unheard. Honestly, my issue with every other podcast in our field is that clinical teaching and polite leadership talk areare a little boring. I figure if it bores me, it bores you. So then, where can we learn how groups do or don't make money? How do hospital deals get structured? Why do subsidies keep climbing? What separates a holding company from private equity? What does it take to build leadership that holds up under pressure? The list goes on. Which brings us here. I present to you the show I've been wanting to see and got tired waiting around for. About the Rest is a twice-monthly inside baseball podcast for the people who run things. Join me as I sit down with fellow anesthesia business leaders Randy Moore and other key voices from the field to take real positions and hash out the big questions, warts and all. If it's in the public record, it's on the table: announcements, policy changes, lawsuits, the big RFP nobody will explain, the conference moment everyone clocked. If you want to learn how to get into the OR, this isn't it. About the Rest is about, well, the rest! Learn More: www.abouttherest.com About the Rest is a Human Content Production Language: en-us Genres: Business, Careers, Health & Fitness, Medicine Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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The CAA Certification Debacle, the Locums Bubble, and Why Anesthesia Groups Keep Losing Contracts. They Shouldn't.
Tuesday, 15 September, 2026
20 exam windows invalidated. Roughly 150 graduates who thought they had a job in September now retaking a national certification exam. And a workforce gap between CRNAs and anesthesiologists that's up to 11,000 and accelerating. Joe Rodriguez sits down with Randy Moore and Tracy Young, three days into Tracy's term as president of his professional association. They don't agree on all of it. That's the point. The docket opens with the CAA certification crisis: what NCCAA found, why Tracy says the CRNA community shouldn't take a victory lap, and what it means for hospitals already stretched thin. From there, Randy walks through the supply and demand curves reshaping the locums market, Tracy lays out the data on the widening CRNA-anesthesiologist gap, and both agree a locums company bubble is forming, even if they disagree on the timeline. The sharpest moment of the episode: Randy makes the case that anesthesia groups have spent years selling themselves as a cost to minimize instead of an investment that drives OR volume, and argues that's the real reason contracts get lost. Plus: a difficult conversation about a real-world medication error making national headlines, handled from a systems and second-victim lens rather than a blame lens, and Joe closes with a personal reflection on what changes when you stop trying to win every argument. Takeaways: Test-bank leaks don't just fail an exam. They retroactively threaten seven years of certifications. Confidentiality isn't a control, it's a hope. Anesthesia supply is exploding on a delayed timeline. Cohort increases decided during COVID take three-plus years to hit the market. 2025's record graduate numbers are the first wave, not the peak. Pricing anesthesia is not a simple supply and demand exercise. Margins are sticky. Recruiting gets easier before rates ever move, and the real correction only lands when a hospital's actual costs force the renegotiation. Anesthesia groups lose contracts for one reason about 70% of the time: they can't cover the points of service. Cost is rarely the actual failure point, even though it's the stated one. Framing anesthesia as a cost to minimize instead of an investment that unlocks OR volume is the biggest strategic error facility partners make, and anesthesia groups reinforce it every time they lead with price. Power without discipline just wins arguments. Power used well finds the best answer and lets the argument go. _____________ Want more Dr. Joe Rodriguez? Tik Tok: @jrodcrna21 Instagram: @jrod.crna & @abouttherestpod YouTube: @AboutTheRest Thanks for my co-hosts: Randy Moore (EVP & National Chief CRNA, NorthStar Anesthesia) Gary Keeling (VP of Anesthesia Services, Coronis RCM) To Learn More about Human Content Visit: http://www.human-content.com To Learn More about About The Rest Visit: www.abouttherest.com Got a Question? hello@abouttherest.com Part of the Human Content Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
