Candidate for Director, 2026 - 2028
Christina Massaro, MSN, CRNA Fast Facts About Christina
Chrissy Massaro is a CRNA based in New York City. She specializes in cardiac anesthesia and has been practicing since she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, where she also worked as a cardiac surgery ICU nurse. Before her nursing career, Chrissy graduated from Eastern University with a BS in Psychology and worked as a Community Support Professional for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today, Chrissy integrates her communication skills into her passion for elevating the practice of her peers, manifested by leading ultrasound-guided IV and central line workshops in her workplace, hosting annual simulation conferences for aspiring CRNAs, and serving as the CEO of Confident Care Academy, an online continuing education platform to provide continuing education and mentorship for critical care nurses and future CRNAs.
What are the biggest challenges currently facing the profession?The biggest challenge to our profession is the current push for reimbursement cuts for anesthesia services from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as private insurers. This puts our profession at risk from multiple angles. Tighter budgets mean decreased resources for safe anesthetics, increased production pressure, and the closure of small and rural facilities to provide crucial care to our communities across the state of New York. Anesthesia teams will be stretched further to fill busy operating room schedules in the centers that remain, leading to increased burnout and decreased retention of staff who best know the communities that they care for. This financial pressure mixed with outdated supervision requirements will make it harder for teams to function in a manner that is compliant with TEFRA. This puts an unnecessary financial burden on facilities to hire expensive temporary staff because able bodied physicians, who often desire to provide their own anesthesia, are kept out of rooms to meet these requirements. As our population ages and over half of our workforce looks towards retirement in the next decade, these problems will continue to compound. Staffing shortages alongside the aforementioned financial constraints will put pressure on teams in a way we have not seen in many decades. The only path forward is to ensure that facilities in New York have the flexibility to choose staffing models that serve their needs and maximize the skills of every member of the team, while simultaneously advocating for fair reimbursement for anesthesia services from insurers to ensure we have the resources needed to continue to provide safe and quality care in the face of future workforce constraints. What experiences, ideas, connections, or resources do you bring that would help address these challenges?My background working with adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Pennsylvania has given me a front row seat to witnessing how decreased Medicaid reimbursement directly impacts the most vulnerable in society. Reimbursement is an issue that impacts all patients and all medical professionals. This issue has created a unique opportunity to align with nursing and medical professional organizations that we have historically not always collaborated with. Communicating this need to work together with concrete examples and storytelling will help us team up with professional organizations to fight for fair billing practices to ensure a bright future for our healthcare workforce as well as the communities we serve. What is one skill or strength you possess that sets you apart from your peers?I believe my background in Psychology helped me become skilled in effective communication with groups who don’t always share the same background, goals, or ideas as me. This skill set was brought to the next level when I gained a social media audience of over 300,000 people across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify. As my online presence as a CRNA grew, I quickly learned that intention does not always equal impact. It is incredibly easy to have good intentions and at the same time be misunderstood by groups who don’t always share the same framework. This experience taught me how to speak with clarity at a level that everyone can understand from the lens of a shared goal. This experience opened doors to speak directly with decision makers within institutions I have worked for, for organizations I have been a member of, and with local politicians in the city of New York. Having an online platform has also created the opportunity to educate audiences who might normally not care about our profession. These experiences have greatly influenced the emphasis I now place on clear communication in the context of professional advocacy. What do you love about being a CRNA? What drew you to the profession?My favorite part of being a CRNA is having the privilege of earning the trust of a complete stranger within moments of meeting them, the training and authority to provide comfort and safety in the most vulnerable moments of their life, and seeing a good outcome on the other side of surgery. I was drawn to this profession when I spent a semester shadowing physicians in the Mexican public health system. I was mentored by an anesthesiologist who showed me that giving a high quality anesthetic is more than just pharmacology; it also requires an understanding of the physiologic, psychologic, and socioeconomic factors that influence our patients. I was deeply inspired by her knowledge, genuine care, and passion for teaching. When I came back to the US, I was certain that I wanted to pivot to a career in healthcare. I became a nurse’s aide in an outpatient surgery center to gain further experience, and which is where I discovered the profession of nurse anesthesiology. I met CRNAs who were kind enough to let me shadow them and who encouraged me to pursue this career. I completed my Psychology degree, went back to school for a second degree in nursing, and the rest is history. Please share at least one idea you believe would better engage or involve members in advancing NYSANA’s mission.Too often we become comfortable in our environment and fail to see what is happening outside of the walls of our home institution. I would love to create education for district-based events that highlight the economics of anesthesia and upcoming workforce constraints with direct examples of how it will likely impact each district’s local institutions in the near future. Seeing the direct impact that reimbursement cuts will have on our own facilities is the key to activating engagement for CRNAs who feel that these issues do not directly affect them. |
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