California Society of Anesthesiologists

CSA News

Anthem gets flak for anesthesia coverage policy

Doctors in California are raising the alarm over a recent policy change from Anthem that they say could harm patients undergoing cataract surgery. The policy categorizes monitored anesthesia care as “not medically necessary” during routine cataract surgery, according to the California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, the California Society of Anesthesiologists and the California Medical Association.

Botox injections may relieve migraine pain in children, adolescents

Kids and teens receiving Botox injections every 12 weeks over a five-year period had improvements in their frequency, duration and intensity of migraines. The participants in the study were between the ages of 8 and 17 with chronic migraines — defined as 15 migraines per month or having experienced migraines eight to 30 days a month.

Strange Daze Podcast

Strange Daze is a bi-weekly podcast from the creators of Straight Talk MD, hosted by anesthesiologist Frank Sweeny. Each episode fuses narrative storytelling with science as our host examines a real case of a surgery or a procedure that went terribly wrong and dissects out why.

'A Doctor's Notes On Anesthesia'

Dr. Henry Jay Przybylo specializes in pediatric anesthesiology and treats 1,000 children a year — from micro-preemies to teenagers. His new memoir is called 'Counting Backwards.'

What Do Fact-Checkers and Anesthesiologists Have in Common?

"We're not out for recognition," says Dr. William Feaster, an anesthesiologist at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. "What's most important is that you feel you've done a really good job and that the patient has a good outcome. Our recognition is more internal and within the medical community." But the reward is also with the power of their position in the operating room. "We basically run the OR," Dr. Feaster notes, "and it's efficient or not based on how the anesthesiologist is working."