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Study reveals procedure times 25 percent quicker in ASCs than hospitals

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Outcomes in hospitals and surgery centers are about the same

According to an article in Becker's Hospital Review, a new study published in Health Affairs has quantified exactly how much more efficient surgery centers are than hospital inpatient surgery departments. The publication's May theme, "US Hospitals: Responding To An Uncertain Environment," explores the implications of care in a post Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act environment.

According to the study, ASC procedures take an average of 31.8 fewer minutes than hospital procedures, with a 25 percent average time reduction between the surgery locations. In addition, while outcomes between hospitals and surgery centers were comparable, surgical costs were between $400 and $1,000 lower for ASC cases.

To come to this conclusion, researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 437 facilities and 52,000 surgical visits over four years, according to a news release.

"Given the rapid growth in the number of surgeries performed in ASCs in recent years, our findings suggest that ASCs provide an efficient way to meet future growth in demand for outpatient surgeries and can help fulfill the Affordable Care Act's goals of reducing costs while improving the quality of health care delivery," the authors said in the study.

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Health Care Surgery ASC Health Affairs Becker Patient Protection ASCs Disease Control Hospital Review Affordable Care Act environment Uncertain Environment

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Munnich and Parente predict in their study that the number of outpatient surgeries in hospitals alone will continue to climb by 8 to 16 percent each year through 2021.
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In 2011, more than 60 percent of all U.S. surgeries were outpatient procedures compared to 19 percent in 1981.
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Not only did researchers find that surgery center patients spent 25 percent less time undergoing outpatient surgery than hospital patients but they inferred that patient costs were $363 to $1,000 lower while their health care was just as satisfactory.
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