This year, as we confronted new issues and problems, when we needed new solutions, when we identified new work to support our members and execute on our Strategic Plan, member leaders, committees, and staff stepped quickly into each void, nimbly positioning us to respond effectively and in a timely manner. Without this engaged, informed awareness and effort, we as ASA would be unable to develop and advance the work supporting our profession that serves each of us so well.
As you will see in our 2025 Annual Report, together, we leaned into our Strategic Priorities over the past year, which will continue for 2026 delivering constancy in purpose. These prioritized activities will continue to guide us moving forward:
Advancing anesthesiologist-led care delivery models that improve patient safety, clinical outcomes, patient and physician experience, and clinical efficiency.
Strengthening the visibility and voice of the specialty as a leader in the health care ecosystem.
Leveraging knowledge about our profession and the needs of our members to continuously improve support for members and to strengthen understanding and adoption of advanced technologies for the benefit of our members, the specialty of anesthesiology, and our patients.
Working continuously to ensure the economic integrity of the specialty.
Our Strategic Plan in action drove many accomplishments, including ASA’s reinvestment in our Anesthesia Quality Institute, which will rebuild the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry and develop a new Anesthesia Community Registry in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Epic.
This past year our state affairs team, with our state components and many of you, engaged in protecting our patients by advocating for physician-led care. We will continue this work and support for departments and practices in their communications and alignment with facilities and health systems.
At the federal level, we continued protecting our patients, especially our nation’s Veterans’ right to anesthesiologist-led care. In addition, we advocated for anesthesia research funding.
We maintained focus on holding big insurance accountable for their troubling trend of unilaterally undercutting established billing and payment norms. ASA partnered with several state components to develop legislation and enact new state laws to prevent insurers from arbitrarily limiting payment for anesthesia time. We launched campaigns to reverse payer policies halting payments for physical status modifiers and special circumstances. And we were among the first medical specialty organizations to urge Congress to conduct oversight of insurance companies’ potentially anti-competitive and unlawful behavior.
Leading a multi-stakeholder coalition, we pushed the Administration to release a final No Surprises Act regulation to fix payers’ “gaming” the mandatory 30-day negotiation period, expand batching of anesthesia CPT codes, and modify the 90-day cooling off period.
To help support the economic sustainability of anesthesia practices, we relaunched the Center for Anesthesia and Perioperative Economics, a policy-focused, forward-thinking initiative focused on proactive, long-term solutions.
We have developed an innovative new education strategy, guided by recent clinical education assessment research, to deliver more frequent and engaging learning programs tailored to evolving needs.
In an exciting addition to our publications portfolio, ASA launched a new online, peer-reviewed, open access companion journal, called Anesthesiology® Open.
The success of our profession has been and must remain based on the active engagement of our strong, informed, and growing ASA membership — more than 60,000 in 2025.
Our member leaders, and our unparalleled teamwork with ASA staff, have defined this year and will drive us forward. ASA will be in excellent hands with Patrick Giam, MD, FASA, at the helm. His expertise and leadership skills are a great asset to ASA, the specialty, and the broader health care community.
It's been a productive year and I’m incredibly optimistic about our future. I have to say that the most rewarding aspect of my year as President has been hearing from you. Thank you for sharing with me your experiences, your opinions, and your ideas about what our ASA can do for you and for our profession.
It has been a privilege and an honor to serve as your President.
Date of last update: February 24, 2026