Charted: Outpatient procedure volumes are on the rise

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals shifted certain procedures to outpatient settings as they adapted to limited resources and attempted to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

Study details and key findings

For the study, researchers analyzed case volumes for the 16 most common general surgeries in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Outpatient procedures were defined as procedures where patients were discharged the same day.

Patients were divided into two groups: Those who had received surgery between January 2016 and December 2019 and those who had received surgery between January and December 2020.

There were 823,746 patients who received...