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NorthStar Anesthesia is off to a strong start in 2024 due to our outstanding professionalism and dedication to delivering high-quality patient care in the face of an evolving anesthesia industry. In Q1 so far, we’ve experienced growth with new hospital and ASC partners and additional team members. We remain committed to making NorthStar the employer of choice for anesthesia clinicians. I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of our previous successes and the excellent work our team has produced, which now guides our priorities for the future.
Strong Feedback, Increased Engagement, and Outstanding Scores
To begin, each year, we conduct our annual engagement survey for NorthStar employees, a critical tool to better understand internal perception of NorthStar. The 2023 engagement survey reflected strong participation, increased engagement, and refreshed our key analyses. Company leadership hoped to increase company-wide engagement by 10%, but the survey’s results surpassed this goal with a 23% year-over-year (YoY) increase in overall engagement. Studies consistently show that employees who are highly engaged, such as ours, are happier, more satisfied, and provide the highest levels of patient care. We hope to remain a destination employer for all of our teams at NorthStar.
Additionally, 97% of NorthStar’s entities whose data was submitted to Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) achieved an “Exceptional” rating under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in 2022. Since NorthStar established its Office of Clinical Quality in 2019 in pursuit of high-quality clinical performance across its sites, NorthStar has maintained or exceeded its MIPS scores each year. We expect similar scores following NorthStar’s strong 2023 performance.
We also ask surgeons at NorthStar-affiliated facilities for input regarding clinicians’ expertise, professionalism, competency, and related values through our annual Surgeon Satisfaction Survey. We received incredible feedback this year, which we wouldn’t have received without the gracious attitudes and hard work of NorthStar clinicians across the country. I wanted to share some quotes from surgeons who took the Surgeon Satisfaction Survey:
We continue to use survey feedback, MIPS scores, and additional valuable input to form the foundation for our enterprise-wide action planning.
Professional Development Opportunities
We want NorthStar to be a destination employer, and that means being able to offer varied and exciting career opportunities for our clinicians. One of many ways we accomplish this is directly helping teams to expand and strengthen their skills through clinical block training and opportunities to teach residents and SRNAs. We also work hard to foster strong clinical leadership, both in the current and rising ranks, which is a key ingredient for the success of our sites. Our leadership development program, NorthStar Next, is central to this effort.
Supporting opportunities to improve the profession is also important to being a destination employer, and we’ve seen our clinicians and residents engage in studies and speaking throughout 2023. For example, NorthStar physicians and clinicians published two studies on intraoperative hypotension in community anesthesia practice and ambulatory surgery centers. We look forward to continuing to support quality improvement activities this year.
NorthStar’s Long-Term Focus Ensures Continued Success
While 2023 has been a challenging year for practice management companies across the country (as has played out in the news), NorthStar has benefited from our focus on our patients, clinicians, and the needs of our hospital partners. One of our advantages is that we work with our long-term capital partner, Cranemere, which was intentionally founded to partner with and support businesses such as NorthStar over many years. This has allowed NorthStar to prioritize sustainable growth and quality patient care while investing in our clinicians. I want to reiterate that both Cranemere and NorthStar share a commitment to long-term excellence for our patients, clinicians, and hospital partners.
Additionally, NorthStar continues to advocate for long-term contracts with the hospitals we serve that prioritize patient care, control costs, and fairly compensate clinicians. We also partner with national associations to ensure that the No Surprises Act is effectively enforced, protecting patients from balance billing and enabling fair clinician compensation.
Continued and Expected Growth ‘Starting 2024 Strong’ Message
In the past year, NorthStar continued to grow strategically, adding 23 facilities, all through organic growth. This includes the following notable locations:
To ensure adequate staffing at these new facilities and across those we continue to service, we have worked diligently to add additional NorthStar employees to our team. We held 70 recruiting events, enjoyed 55 CRNA training program relationships, experienced a 47% increase in application volume, and welcomed 725 new NorthStar staff to our team. This translated to a 37% YoY increase in hires. Additionally, there was a 20% increase in staffing at preexisting sites at the start of 2024 compared to 2022. NorthStar also saw a 92% enterprise-wide retention rate of top clinical-talent to optimize operating room performance, indicating a team-based culture, and diverse career paths throughout our company. We look forward to continuing this growth with organic expansions in 2024.
As we continue to grow and broaden our community impact, NorthStar will ensure consistent investments into our team through high-quality patient care and talented anesthesia professional recruitment. We will prioritize our robust culture, offer professional development opportunities, and nurture fruitful management practices.
With a strong culture of collaboration and a team that is fully committed to our patients and each other’s success, growth, and wellbeing, we look forward to continuing to provide exceptional patient care, as one team.
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