[Noah930]

You may find a surgeon within network, but how about the hospital or surgery center where the procedure's to be done, or the anesthesiologist who's putting you to sleep? The surgeon may have some control over obtaining privileges at a facility that's within network (though unless he/she owns the facility, that facility may or may not be within network the following year). And there are a myriad of networks, individual to each insurer. But the surgeon certainly has no control over the network affiliations of the anesthesiologist. A surgeon has no more control over who the anesthesiologist is going to be on any particular day, than a catcher does over who the starting pitcher will be for a game. A surgeon and the anesthesiologist are two separate businesses; they may work in collaboration, but one can't make contractual decisions for the other.