ASCA and SAMBA Discuss Joint 2026 Conference and Anesthesia Provider Shortage

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and Alberto Ardon, MD, president of the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA), discuss their collaboration to address the current anesthesia provider shortage and plans for the ASCA + SAMBA Conference & Expo, May 13–16 in Washington, DC. 

 As ASCA members are acutely aware, the healthcare system is currently facing a significant shortage of anesthesia providers. While ASCA has always maintained strong relationships with other professional medical organizations, including those representing the anesthesia community, the urgency of today’s shortage has raised the stakes and the importance of greater collaboration between surgery centers and the anesthesiologists who practice in them. 

Tune in to learn more about efforts to relieve the current shortage of anesthesia providers as well as the first-of-its-kind joint annual conference. Visit the ASCA + SAMBA 2026 website to see the full conference schedule.

Transcript

Below is an edited transcript of ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice’s podcast recording with Dr. Alberto Ardon, the president of the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia, or SAMBA. This transcript was produced using an AI-powered transcription service and there may be errors, inaccuracies or inconsistencies.


Welcome to the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, brought to you by ASCA, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. ASCA represents the interests of outpatient surgery centers of every specialty and provides advocacy and resources to assist them in providing safe, high-quality, cost-effective patient care. As with all of ASCA's communications, please check to make sure you are listening to or viewing our most up-to-date podcasts and announcements.

Bill Prentice: 00:27
Hello, welcome to the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast. I'm Bill Prentice, CEO of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, or ASCA. Today I'll be talking with Dr. Alberto Ardon, the president of the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia, or SAMBA, about our plans to combine our annual association meetings in May of next year at the Gaylord National Harbor outside of Washington, D.C. As we all know, the healthcare system is currently facing a significant shortage of anesthesia providers. And while ASCA has always maintained strong relationships with other professional associations, including those representing the anesthesia community, the urgency of today's shortages have raised the stakes and the importance of greater collaboration between both surgery centers and the anesthesiologists who practice in them. And ultimately, we all recognize that policymakers and medical schools will need to find ways to enroll and graduate more practitioners. But in the short term, many surgery centers, working more closely with their anesthesiologists, are finding ways to work more collaboratively and more efficiently. And it's these best practices that have become the focus of ASCA'S collaboration with SAMBA. And in a moment, I'll let Dr. Arden tell us more about the mission of Samba and his expectations for our first ever joint meeting, but first a brief introduction. Alberto is an anesthesiology consultant and assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. He began practicing in 2014 after completing a fellowship in anesthesia and acute pain at the Mayo Clinic. He specializes in ambulatory anesthesia, orthopedic anesthesia, and acute pain. He's been a Samba board member since 2012 and assumed the presidency in 2024. So with that introduction, Alberto, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for that kind introduction. I'm glad to be here. So Alberta, before we talk about our collaboration in the upcoming spring meetings, could you take a few minutes and tell our listeners a little more about Samba and about your past annual meetings, what they've looked like, both the numbers and the educational offerings?

Alberto Ardon: 02:21
Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. So the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia, or SAMBA, has been around since about 1985. At our core, we're all about advancing safe, high-quality anesthesia care for patients having surgery outside of the hospital. So in ambulatory surgery centers and in office-based practices. Over the years, SAMBA's really grown into this incredible community of anesthesiologists, CRNAs, nurses, and administrators who are passionate about making outpatient surgery better, safer, and more efficient. Our annual meeting really is a highlight of the year for the community. We typically have somewhere between 300 and 350 attendees at our annual meeting, and the energy is always great. It's a mix of engaging lectures, practical workshops, and opportunities to share ideas about what's working in our space. We cover a wide range of topics from the latest regional anesthesia that's applicable to outpatient surgery to enhanced recovery techniques, even operational and staffing challenges unique to ambulatory surgery centers. So this pretty lines up a lot with what Ask has been looking into also. The sessions are also meant to be immediately applicable. So folks can go back on Monday and apply some of these principles and new knowledge. Overall, though, one of the best things is the networking. There's something about just having a group of people that are passionate about ambulatory anesthesia in one place. And it's the lectures, the hallway conversations, those discussions that were all there to innovate and make things happen. And that's really captured for our strategic plan for the next few years.

Bill Prentice: 04:03
Liberta, we need to take a short break now to hear a message from our podcast sponsor. Stand by and we'll be right back.

Narrator: 04:09
This recording of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association is being brought to you by Surgery Partners, a leading operator of surgical facilities and ancillary services with more than 200 locations in 33 states. Surgery Partners offers multiple types of healthcare services that deliver high-quality healthcare in a convenient and cost-effective manner. To learn more, visit SurgeryPartners.com.

Bill Prentice: 04:33
Okay, let's talk about next May when both Asuka and Samba members will gather at the Gaylord National Harbor in Washington, D.C. for our meetings. You and I recently had the opportunity to tour the hotel and the convention center together. And I'd like to hear what your impressions and takeaways were from our site visit in terms of the hospitality and functionality for both Samba and Asuka members and what they might expect in May. In particular, what would your members be excited about being at Gaylord with us?

Alberto Ardon: 04:60
Yeah, Bill, absolutely. That visit really got me excited for what's coming in May. The Gaylord National Resort is an outstanding venue. It's modern, it's beautiful, it's huge, and it looks to be really functional for this meeting. So from what my impression was that from the moment I walked in, you get this feeling of that everything's been designed to make this large conference flow pretty smoothly. One of the things that really struck me too is how walkable everything seemed to be. So everything is connected and we would have a good relationship between the Samba attendees and the ASCA attendees and being able to share some of the spaces. The exhibit areas, restaurants, even the views of the Potomac look to be great. It really makes it a lot easier for people to kind of sit down and intermingle in between sessions, connect with colleagues, and have some good downtime without having to leave the property. The staff seemed to be phenomenal. I mean, I felt like that we were really welcome there when we did our walkaround. They were very professional and they were used to hosting high-level national meetings. That's the kind of hospitality that really makes a difference because it helps us focus on what matters most, which is our content and being there for our members. Obviously, the fact that we're alongside ASCA, it makes it even better. There's a lot of synergy, I think, between our two organizations. And I think our missions align really closely around advancing quality, safety, and efficiency in outpatient surgery. So I think this joint meeting is going to be a fantastic opportunity for us both. I agree.

Bill Prentice: 06:26
And I think that having been to Samba annual meetings in the past myself and knowing what we put on in terms of an ASCA meeting, I think there will be a great experience, particularly for the Samba attendees, in terms of the scale of our meeting. I think the decisions we made where the main Samba meeting room will be embedded right in the middle of all the ASCA education will be great. And I think we'll allow for collaboration and there'll be room for ASCA attendees to sit in on Samba sessions and vice versa. And I think that that's going to be great. I think having a shared general session with both memberships being in the same room to hear great speakers is going to be an amazing thing. And I think, Alberta, your attendees will be blown away by our social event on Friday night and what we put on there. It's a great party. We'll have a live band. I think it's going to be 90s themed. So we're going to make sure that everyone shows up in their 90s era finery. So I think it's going to be a really great opportunity for both communities to get together and interact in ways that I think will be beneficial to both. But getting back to the anesthesia challenges, I mentioned my introductory remarks, many of our members are discovering new ways to collaborate and operate more efficiently with their anesthesia providers. And I know that's going to be something that a lot of people will be talking about at this meeting. What are you hearing from your members in terms of their work in surgery centers right now that might be applicable?

Alberto Ardon: 07:50
Yeah, that's a really important question. It's actually one that we're hearing a lot from our members too. The kind of anesthesia workforce right now is feeling some of the strain from the economic environment and just overall decrease in the number of candidates that go through anesthesia residency training programs. I think that it's going to be a challenge overall, especially how we schedule staff and really collaborate within the ASE environment. What we're seeing too is that the communication and predictability are really important and they're essential so far. The surgery centers that are kind of thriving in this environment are the ones working kind of hand in hand with their anesthesia teams to make sure that cases are booked well, efficiently, rooms are turning over well, and the day is fully utilized. It can be really challenging from an anesthesiologist's point of view that if you're doing one case in one surgery center, you know, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and then you've got two more cases at another surgery center across town, and then three more at a third location to end a day, that can be pretty challenging. And that's not the best use of time for the anesthesia provider or for the surgery center themselves. So these are things that we all have to work together to really address. There's been a shift towards kind of this mutual flexibility that I'm referring to also. And by that I mean that we have to share data. We have to think about what the volumes are going to be, plan ahead for staffing. It's less of a transactional relationship and now more of a true partnership. And so having surgeons, staff, and patients all be kind of on the same page as to what the expectations are is really going to be key.

Bill Prentice: 09:28
I couldn't agree more. And as I often say when it comes to these anesthesia challenges, they were a long time in the making. And it's going to take a long time to actually get out of this problem and have kind of a better way of using anesthesia in the long term. But I think the only way we're going to be able to get along and fix these challenges is by working together. And I think that's another example of why this joint conference is a great idea because it's going to allow for a lot of that conversation to be had. And I think there'll be sessions in both of our meetings about this topic to try and help make sure that our patients get the care they need, the pain control that they need in a way that's affordable to everyone.

Alberto Ardon: 10:10
I think affordability is going to be a big thing because it's financially beneficial on all sides when we structure these things appropriately, right? And for surgeons, and some of these things are things that we can't really help all that much. You know, when we have a surgery colleague who gets out of clinic at 5 p.m. and they need to do a case, as long as we're well aware of that ahead of time and we can properly staff for it from an anesthesiologist perspective and from the perioperative sources, right? So one of the big things we're hearing is that it's tough to maintain a consistent amount of perioperative nurses right now that have been at a facility for a long time because their hours are getting longer and longer, right? And so that's a constant struggle where the expectation that a regular ASC day is going to be till 9 or 10 p.m., that's not sustainable.

Bill Prentice: 10:59
No, it is not. And as you know, we've been talking about anesthesia shortages. We obviously have shortages of all different types of providers that practice and provide care in surgery centers. So the problem is not going to get better in the short term, is likely going to get worse, but we have to find longer-term solutions to make sure that we're creating the right work environment for everyone in the surgery center while still maintaining the high standards and high quality that our patients deserve, right? Yeah, absolutely. So, Alberta, I can tell you that the entire ASCA board of directors, as well as many members that I've spoken to around the country in the last few months, are really excited about the prospect of a collaborative meeting between our organizations. And for ASCA members, I can tell you that registration is already open. We already have people registering for next year, and we have discounts through the end of the year for people who register early. I know on the Samba side that we're just days away from having registration open for your attendees at the same price point. So really looking forward to that. And so now the challenge is to make sure that this really is the great conference that we're expecting with daily interactions, shared educational opportunities. I have even mentioned the interactive exhibit hall that we're going to have that's going to feature vendors and suppliers that support both anesthesia and surgery centers in general. I think your attendees are going to be blown away by the size of that exhibit hall and the energy going on in there. Do you have any final thoughts, though, on the meeting and our ongoing collaborations?

Alberto Ardon: 12:26
Yeah, well, first, absolutely, that exhibit hall is going to be amazing. I think everybody's going to be really impressed, just kind of walking that space a few months ago. It's going to be a great experience for everybody. It's not something that they've been, I think, exposed to on the same level within our meetings. So that's going to be a great experience for them. The excitement really is mutual for both of our societies. A lot of our officers, board of directors, and members are really exciting in having this meeting with AskA. It's something really special. It's something that we've been trying to do for quite a number of years. And whether it was one reason or COVID was one of the reasons, right? And so we're finally able to do this and do it the way that we originally intended to do it. Right. And that's going to be key, where we're sharing the venue and we've got two communities that are coming together for a shared mission, which is essentially delivering safe, high quality, efficient care in an outpatient setting. And that's what we're both about. I think what's unique about this collaboration is how complementary our strengths are. Ask brings a deep expertise in ASC operations, management, advocacy, and we bring kind of the clinical knowledge from an anesthesia point of view, and patient safety and quality perspective from a clinical point of view. So if you put these things together under one roof, magic is going to happen, right? So we're going to be able to interact and really do well and build upon each other. And the key is really making sure it feels like a joint conference, having these shared sessions, interacting from both sides, shared spaces, et cetera. So that's where the real value lies, I think, is that dynamic environment that's going to happen. I guess, like in conclusion, everybody in SAMB is all in on this. This is, I think, a start of a deeper kind of partnership, one that doesn't have to end when we wrap up the meeting in May, but it's about building lasting relationships and connections between our organizations, both on the executive level, but also among the members too. So we're really excited about this.

Bill Prentice: 14:17
Well, Albert, I couldn't say it better myself. So thank you for that. And I want to thank you for taking the time to join me on this podcast. And more importantly, thank you for this professional collaboration. This is a great opportunity for both organizations, and it would not have been possible without your initiative and your leadership. So thank you again.

Alberto Ardon: 14:36
No, thank you. Appreciate it. Looking forward to meeting now.

Bill Prentice: 14:39
Before concluding, I'd like to acknowledge the support of our update sponsor, Surgery Partners, a leading operator of surgical facilities and ancillary services with more than 200 locations in 33 states. Surgery Partners offers multiple types of healthcare services that deliver high-quality healthcare in a convenient and cost effective manner. To learn more, please visit surgerypartners.