About Us
About Us
Letter From Manager

Welcome to the Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC website. As a practicing physician for over the last 30 years, I consider it a privilege to be the leader of one of the largest and most talented physician groups in Central Indiana. Indeed, I am honored by the fact that you trust your care to the Physicians of Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC. With over 90,000 patients seen annually at our 18 Indianapolis area facilities, our 92 Physicians are all residency trained and Board certified/eligible by the American Society of Anesthesiology to provide the highest quality care possible. Our practice spans 4 suburban hospitals, all in the St. Vincent Hospital system, and 14 free-standing ambulatory surgery centers. With the healthcare landscape constantly changing, we ask each and every patient to be attuned to who their healthcare provider is and to demand the most educated and highest trained possible to protect your life with any surgical encounter. At Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC we are prepared to deliver the highest quality and most compassionate care as we feel you deserve the best care and you should demand it.
Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC is proud of our relationship with St. Vincent Hospital, which has consistently been awarded one of the nation’s top 100 hospitals in US News and World Report. Our physicians provide critical functions and fulfill various clinical and non-clinical roles for St Vincent Hospital, including Director of pediatric cardiothoracic anesthesia (Dr. Johanna Wallisa) and Director of the acute pain service (Dr. Christopher McPeek). We are proud of this affiliation and have continued to build and expand our coverage areas based on our commitment to excellence in the Indianapolis area. Our company has been and continues to be an integral part of the development and management of ambulatory surgical centers and free-standing hospitals. We offer consultative services and provide medical directorships in these developing areas.
Our team of anesthesiologists provides a diverse array of anesthesia and anesthesia techniques including a team of fellowship-trained pediatric anesthesiologists who perform the most delicate task of anesthesia for the smallest of children requiring open heart procedures. Our acute pain service is one of the largest private practice services in the country, providing the latest techniques in pain control in the postoperative period. The goal of providing opioid-free anesthesia is well within our reaches as we continue to offer a greater array of cutting-edge peripheral nerve blockade. Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC also provides anesthesia for one of the busiest bariatric units in the country as well as the busiest obstetric hospital in Indiana. Indeed, we place a high priority on specialized clinical skills and patient satisfaction, taking patients through procedures from relatively simple to highly complex.
As the managing partner of the group, I am extremely proud to be part of an organization that provides such compassionate care and specialized expertise. I am also fortunate to be flanked by the Director of Operating Room Services at St Vincent Hospital Dr. David Hoover; Director of Perioperative Services Dr. David Crook; and the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia at St Vincent Hospital and Chief Quality Officer, Dr. Donald Schilson. All of these Physician leaders provide superb clinical leadership and set high standards for our group. Our great respect for the patient-physician relationship, our continued thirst for knowledge, and our desire to be the very best have led to fulfillment, happiness, and success in our physician careers. I am quite fortunate to be one of these physicians.
Sincerely,
Andrew K Satz, M.D.
FACILITIES COVERED BY NAS:
Acute Pain Service
Welcome and thank you for visiting our website. This should help provide information about the Acute Pain Services (APS) offered at St. Vincent 86th Street Hospital. There are several physicians, all anesthesiologists, who specialize in and share responsibility for managing acute pain at St. Vincent. We are available to our patients 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year - there is always someone available to help you with acute pain relief.
First, what is "acute" pain? How does it differ from "chronic" pain?
Acute pain is pain that typically lasts a brief period of time, usually hours to days or sometimes weeks. For most of our acute pain patients, the source of pain is typically a surgical procedure or a recent injury or physiologic insult. Chronic pain is pain that lasts much longer, typically on the order of months or even years after initial surgery or injury. Chronic pain is treated very differently from acute pain - there are physicians who specialize in the management of chronic pain, but this is typically not the goal of an Acute Pain Service.
An Acute Pain Service is a team of physicians and nurses dedicated to studying and relieving acute pain for patients in a hospital. It is the goal of our APS to treat and reduce both the intensity and the duration of acute pain. There are numerous benefits to providing APS to patients having surgery, many of which are well-documented in the medical literature, and include:
- reduced dependence on narcotics or opioid-like pain medications for pain control
- improved quality and patient satisfaction in the peri-operative period
- shorter hospital length-of-stays
- lower risk of peri-operative complications
- decreased risk of progression to chronic pain
The ultimate goal is to get you, the patient, out of the hospital sooner and more comfortably, and on with life. If you are planning to have surgery, please make sure to discuss acute pain control options with your surgeon and anesthesiologist prior to surgery.
Acute pain control options typically include a combination of one or more of the following: oral or intravenous pain medications, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) machines, spinal block, epidural block and/or peripheral nerve blocks. Often, a multi-modal approach is chosen and will depend on patient preference, comfort and the location of the pain in the body. The physicians on staff with the APS are highly trained and skilled in the administration of all of these methods of acute pain control and will work with you and your surgeon to provide an acute pain strategy tailored to your specific needs. I hope you find this information helpful - we are happy to have the opportunity to care for you during your stay with us!
Chris McPeek, M.D.
Director of Acute Pain Services
Obstetrical Anesthesia Services
Welcome to the Obstetrical Anesthesia Section of St. Vincent Hospital and Health Services. The anesthesia department provides coverage to the Family Life Center and is in house 24 hours a day. The staff consists of board-certified anesthesiologists who are familiar with current methods, medications, and strategies used to improve patient satisfaction while providing safety for both mother and baby.
From routine labor and delivery to the most complex and high-risk obstetrical situations, our staff is available and capable.
The delivery of your child can be one of the most important and gratifying experiences in a woman's life. We are dedicated to making this experience as comfortable and stress-free as possible.
Please feel free to access the following links:
James Hoffman, M.D.
Director of Obstetrical Anesthesia
Pediatric Anesthesia
At Northside Anesthesia Services, LLC we have a core group of physician anesthesiologists who primarily care for children of all ages. These physicians are experienced in the special needs of children, from premature newborns to teenagers, before, during and after procedures. This includes both decreasing anxiety prior to the procedure and decreasing pain after surgery. Whether it be an emergency surgery or an elective outpatient procedure, your child will have the best possible anesthetic care. Our physicians provide care for the following pediatric surgical areas: general, ENT, cardiothoracic (including EP and cath lab), orthopedic, spine, urology, gastrointestinal, neurosurgery and craniofacial. We also provide care in many procedural and imaging areas throughout the hospital.
We realize as either a patient or a parent, this time can be quite stressful. The following is a great resource for possible questions. Rest assured that all your questions and concerns will be answered prior to any procedure.
https://www.pedsanesthesia.org/about/frequently-asked-questions/
When your child needs anesthesia