Also during this time, we were quick to recognize a trend in the proliferation of ambulatory surgery centers. Understanding the difficulty of staffing anesthesia providers at small centers, Thumb Area Anesthesia Associates viewed this trend as a business opportunity. Because these centers have such wide day-to-day fluctuations in surgical volume (and thus the number of anesthesia providers needed), it is difficult for them to internally hire and manage anesthesia services.  Hiring sufficient staff to cover the busiest times requires frequently paying unproductive staff during the slower times. The company thought this problem could be solved through multiple site anesthesia management, provided through a single source. Developing a group of providers who can move between multiple sites allows the ability to directly match staff to site needs, and as a result in 1995 Ambulatory Surgery Consultants. Inc (ASC) was born. Over the years, ASC’s ambulatory surgery center business continued to grow, currently providing exclusive contracted anesthesia services to over twenty centers throughout Michigan. 

As the business grew, and our experience and knowledge in anesthesia billing deepened, we became interested in bringing our own anesthesia billing in-house and also offering this as a service to our customers. As a result in 2006, ASC became a principle owner of Midwest Anesthesia Consultants which provides anesthesia billing and collection services to anesthesia groups and hospitals throughout the Mid West.

As our infrastructure and capabilities have developed, we recognized our ability to employ this multiple site staffing “model” at the hospital level, and offer the same staffing efficiencies and cost savings on a wider scale. ASC has begun to move into this area, and is currently providing exclusive, contracted services to two hospitals.

Also over the years as our unique anesthesia operations management and billing and reimbursement experience became known, we began to receive more and more requests to consult with hospitals and other groups on anesthesia department operational and financial issues, and now offer this as a service line of business.

With this gradual evolution in business, we again felt it was time to change the company name to better reflect our full range of services. In June 2008, we formally became Anesthesia Staffing Consultants, Inc. Still “ASC”, but with a name that we feel better represents our current line of services.