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Anesthesia subsidy calculator

Estimate what anesthesia coverage costs, what it collects from payers, and the gap a hospital subsidy has to cover, for five coverage models side by side. Every assumption below is editable and starts from published or measured figures.

Medicare, 2026$20.4976 per anesthesia unit

Median anesthesiologist pay$550,000 (Sept 2026)

Median CRNA pay$300,000 (Sept 2026)

Schedule Anesthetizing locations staffed each weekday Days per year they run Cases per location per day Average base units per case Average anesthesia minutes per case

Payer mix Medicare (%) Medicaid (%) Commercial (%) Self-pay and uninsured (%)

Rates Medicare conversion factor ($ per unit) Medicaid conversion factor ($ per unit) Commercial conversion factor ($ per unit) Collected on insured claims (%) Recovered from self-pay (% of commercial rate) Commercial volume paying CRNA-only (QZ) claims at 85% (%)

Staffing cost Anesthesiologist pay ($ a year) CRNA pay ($ a year) Benefits, taxes and malpractice (% on top of pay) Shifts one full-time clinician covers a year Extra coverage for call, breaks and relief (%)

Optional What you pay the group today ($ a year)

Estimate, per year

Coverage model	Anesthesiologists	CRNAs	Staffing cost	Collections	Gap to cover	Per location

An estimate shows the shape of the gap. A benchmark review prices your actual agreement, schedule and payer contracts against comparable facilities.

Get your subsidy benchmarked

Your numbers go with you to the form, so you do not have to type them again.

How the estimate works

The arithmetic, and what it leaves out

Collections. Each case is worth its base units plus one time unit per 15 minutes of anesthesia. Units are multiplied by each payer’s conversion factor, weighted by your payer mix, then by the share actually collected. Under medical direction the anesthesiologist and the CRNA each bill half of the same fee, so the care team models collect the same total as an anesthesiologist working alone (how the modifiers pay). CRNA-only coverage is billed without medical direction (QZ), which Medicare pays in full but several commercial payers now pay at 85% (the 85% rule).

Staffing cost. Every staffed location needs one clinician in the room for each day it runs: an anesthesiologist in the anesthesiologist-only model, otherwise a CRNA. Care team models add one anesthesiologist for every two, three or four rooms, rounded up. Shifts are converted to full-time clinicians, increased for call, breaks and relief, and costed at pay plus benefits. The default pay figures are the September 2026 medians from our job-posting index; the default Medicare rate is the 2026 national conversion factor (and the proposed 2027 cut).

The gap. Staffing cost minus collections is what someone has to cover: usually the hospital, as a subsidy or stipend (what a subsidy is). A negative gap means collections would exceed staffing cost at these inputs.

What it leaves out. Overnight and weekend call beyond the coverage allowance, obstetric and pain services, the group’s management overhead and margin, billing costs, locums premiums, and any income the group earns elsewhere. The care team models assume medical direction is documented on every case (the seven steps); cases that slip into supervision collect less. CRNA-only coverage is not an option everywhere: it depends on state law, the facility’s bylaws and whether the state has opted out of Medicare’s supervision rule (the 2026 list), and it leaves no anesthesiologist on site for complex cases.

This is an estimate for comparing models, not a quote or a fair market value opinion.