Nearly 6 of 10 Hospital-Based Surgeries in 2014 Occurred in Outpatient Settings

In 2014, 58 percent of the nation’s 17.2 million hospital-based surgical visits took place in outpatient settings, according to a new AHRQ statistical brief. The report from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project helps to quantify ongoing shifts toward more outpatient and fewer inpatient hospital-based surgical procedures. Among the most common outpatient surgeries in 2014 were lens and cataract procedures (nearly 100 percent performed in outpatient settings), cartilage removal in the knee (99 percent), tonsillectomy (96 percent), peripheral nerve decompression (95 percent), and hernia repair (92 percent). Private insurance was the most common payer for ambulatory surgery visits, while Medicare was the most common payer among inpatient surgical stays. For more data on inpatient and outpatient hospital-based surgery trends, access the statistical brief.