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Commentary: Quality of Care and Cost Containment Are the Hospital Based Ambulatory Surgery Challenges for the Future

Transplant Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Falk Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pa

Raymond Peter Girnys, MD, FACS

Department of Surgery, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY

Robert J. Silich, MD, FACS

Department of Surgery, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY

Gene F. Coppa, MD, FACS

Department of Surgery, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY

Cost containment and quality of care represent the most important objectives of all health care professionals. Because of its progressive growth over the past decade, ambulatory surgery has become an area where these 2 issues need to be addressed. The goal of this paper is to discuss the economic and quality of care challenges faced by hospitals as they strive to become competitive in the 21st century.

The quality of care in ambulatory surgery has been improving because of multidisciplinary activities. Hospitals tend to hire the staff on the basis of their expertise in certain areas, and those personnel do not have to cover other hospital roles.

Moreover, the hospital staff is able to seek information at any time from coworkers in other areas of specialty. Ambulatory surgery in a hospital offers advantages, such as multiple operating rooms, multiple skilled health care providers, and the ability to stay overnight if needed. The consolidation of supplies makes it easier to contract for a better price. Aggressive contract negotiations and implementation of cost-effective and cost-efficient strategies are the keys to success in the future.

Quality improvement (QI) initiatives and quality of care (QC) indicators need to be developed to address various problems in the ambulatory surgery setting such as unnecessary admissions, inadequate staffing, efficient operating room (OR) utilization, quality of care, and assessment outcome. These initiatives should be addressed at regular meetings where opportunities to improve the ambulatory services are discussed.

The number of ambulatory surgery procedures performed each year will continue to increase, although perhaps not at the rate we experienced in the past. Procedures that once were performed in an inpatient setting can now be accomplished on an outpatient basis or even in the physician's office. We will continue to see this shift of volume as technologic advancements and anesthetic agents allow more complex procedures to be performed on an outpatient basis.

Key Words: Ambulatory surgery • cost containment • quality improvement • quality of care

American Journal of Medical Quality, Vol. 15, No. 3, 114-118 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/106286060001500305


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