Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants
Questions Answered
Thank you for being here.
As Kansas policymakers consider ways to strengthen patient safety and improve access to surgical services, understanding the role of CAAs is essential. This page is here to provide clear, evidence-based information about CAAs: who we are, how we're trained, how we're regulated, and why licensure of CAAs supports safe anesthesia care without compromising standards. Our goal is simple—equip you with the facts you need to make informed decisions that prioritize patient safety and access to care for all Kansans.
Who are CAAs?
Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants (CAAs) are highly trained medical professionals who plan and deliver safety-focused, patient-centric anesthesia care.
These anesthetists coordinate care before, during and after surgery, practicing exclusively within the physician-led Anesthesia Care Team.
What's the Anesthesia Care Team?
The Anesthesia Care Team (ACT) is a physician-led, team-based approach to anesthesia care during medical procedures. A physician anesthesiologist leads and medically directs care, working in collaboration with highly trained anesthesia professionals such as CAAs and CRNAs.
Within the Anesthesia Care Team, CAAs and CRNAs are clinically equivalent. This means that CAAs and CRNAs are interchangeable at practices using the ACT model.
That seems redundant and expensive.
Why use the Anesthesia Care Team?
In short, it's the safest way to deliver anesthesia care.
Anesthesiology isn't just keeping you asleep during surgery. It's understanding all of a patient's medical history. It's optimizing existing medical problems before a procedure. It's developing a plan. It's monitoring vital signs and adjusting medications as conditions change. It's recognizing and responding in emergencies or complications.
It's the practice of medicine.
Which is why we believe anesthesia care should be led by a physician.
The ACT means each patient gets a "layered safety system", significantly reducing preventable errors. It also means there are two sets of hands and eyes if complications arise, led by the expertise of a physician anesthesiologist.
CRNAs will often cite their ability to practice independently, but the truth is,
most anesthetics administered in the United States (and Kansas)
are delivered by an Anesthesia Care Team.
CAAs have already been integrated into practices using the Anesthesia Care Team in many surrounding states (Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado). We are simply asking for the opportunity to step into vacancies in Anesthesia Care Teams that already exist in Kansas.
.png)
What is the education of a CAA?
Before entering a CAA training program, all CAAs complete a rigorous undergraduate premedical education.
CAAs earn a master's degree in anesthesia. CAA training programs range from 24-29 months of graduate-level education from an accredited university that meets rigorous standards.
How are CAAs regulated?
After graduating from an accredited program, CAAs must demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary for competent and safe delivery of anesthesia care.
CAAs must past a certification exam as well as provide documentation of clinical experience.
To maintain certification, CAAs are required to complete 50 hours of continuing education every two years as well as provide continued demonstration of qualifications through regular examinations.
Additionally, if granted licensure by the state of Kansas, CAAs would be under the oversight of the Board of Healing Arts.
What about rural Kansas?
Any rural sites that do not employ a physician anesthesiologist will be unaffected by CAA licensure.
Allowing CAAs to practice in Kansas would fill critical vacancies in hospitals that utilize the Anesthesia Care Team.
It also frees up workforce capacity so CRNAs, who prefer to work independently of physician anesthesiologists, can work in rural areas.
Bottom line.
Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants are highly-skilled and safe providers of anesthesia care.
Adding additional clinicians will improve, not hurt, access to care for Kansans.
Bolstering the healthcare workforce is good for Kansas patients and communities.