Study Findings from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Provide New Insights into Managed Care (Using Quantity of Service Data in Medicaid Claims to Estimate Anesthesia Time): Managed Care

2025 SEP 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from New York City, New York, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Surgical procedure duration and anesthesia time are important variables, with applications including measurement of quality of care and quantity of anesthetic exposure. This study evaluates data from Medicaid anesthesia claims as a proxy for anesthesia time.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, “Fee-for-service anesthesia claims for appendectomies and cholecystectomies of beneficiaries under age 65 years from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX 1999-2013) were identified. The quantity of service (QoS) variable in anesthesia claims was evaluated on three criteria: 1) reflection of expected anesthesia time, 2) correlation with Medicaid payment, and 3) state interpretation of QoS as anesthesia time by evaluating payments estimated using state-specific billing rules and correlation with actual payments. Spearman correlations were calculated with coefficients above 0.7 considered to be strong. 902,492 fee-for-service anesthesia claims were identified from 48 states and DC, with 14 states reporting QoS values in units, 19 reporting in minutes, and 16 reporting in both units and minutes. The median QoS values for appendectomy and cholecystectomy were 6 and 7 units in claims reporting time in units and 76 and 89 minutes in claims reporting time in minutes, respectively. The majority of unit states (9 out of 14; 64%) and minute states (14 out of 19; 74%) met all three criteria. For the 16 states reporting QoS values in both units and minutes, 8 out of 16 (50%) reported unit claims, and 9 out of 16 (56%) reported minute claims that met the three criteria. The QoS variable reported on state Medicaid anesthesia claims had utility in approximating anesthesia time as minutes or 15-minute units when evaluating anesthesia claims from two common surgical procedures.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “However, this variable does not accurately reflect anesthesia time in every state, and even in states where QoS was deemed to be usable, outliers and misclassified data need to be addressed.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Using Quantity of Service Data in Medicaid Claims to Estimate Anesthesia Time. Anesthesiology, 2025. Anesthesiology can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Anesthesiology - http://journals.lww.com/anesthesiology/pages/default.aspx)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ling Guo, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, United States. Additional authors for this research include Guohua Li, Caleb Miles, Miguel Cid, May Hua, Mark Olfson and Caleb Ing.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/aln.0000000000005751. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Anesthesiology is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.

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