Time is money: quantifying savings in outpatient appendectomy

BackgroundLaparoscopic appendectomy can be performed on a fast-track, short-stay, or outpatient basis with high success rates, low morbidity, low readmission rates, and shorter length of hospital stay. Cost savings from outpatient appendectomy have not been well described. We hypothesize that outpatient laparoscopic appendectomy is associated with cost savings.MethodsWe performed an original retrospective cohort analysis of patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy between June 2013 and April 2017 at our academic medical center before and after implementation of an outpatient protocol which began on January 1, 2016. We assessed appendicitis grade, length of stay (LOS), cost, net revenue, and profit margin.ResultsAfter protocol implementation, the percentage of patients discharged from the the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) increased from 3.7% to 29.7% (χ2 p