The number of outpatient surgery visits in the United States increased from 20.8 million visits in 1996 to 34.7 million visits in 2006, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, Ambulatory Surgery in the United States, 2006, contains the first data on outpatient surgery visits since 1996.
The data, which were collected from 142 hospitals and 295 freestanding centers as part of the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery (NSAS), show that outpatient surgery visits accounted for about half of all surgery visits in 1996 but nearly two-thirds of all surgery visits in 2006. Outpatient surgery visits to freestanding centers increased three-fold from 1996 to 2006, whereas the rate for outpatient surgery visits to hospital centers was relatively unchanged. Visits to hospital centers, at 19.9 million, continued to outnumber those to freestanding centers, at 14.9 million (57 percent compared to nearly 43 percent).
The report also found that in 2006, the procedures performed most often during outpatient surgery visits included endoscopies of the large intestine (5.8 million) and small intestine (3.5 million) and extraction of lens for cataract surgery (3.1 million). The average time spent in the operating room during an outpatient surgery visit varied from 61.7 minutes for hospital centers to 43.2 minutes for freestanding centers. Time spent in surgery and recovery and overall visit time were also higher for hospital centers. More than half of outpatient surgery visits (53 percent) were paid by private insurance.
Read the report.
