[Ambulatory surgery in the United States. Reasons of its existence and future]

Ambulatory surgery has been gaining momentum in the United States over the past decade. This does not result from an initiative taken by the medical profession, but from a government plan aimed at checking the soaring costs of medical care. Since this rise was chiefly caused by hospital costs, the attempted savings have primarily affected our privilege of admitting the patients to hospital as we wanted. It has become impossible to admit a patient to hospital for diagnostic testing. Even for major surgery (such as resection of the esophagus, duodenopancreatotomy, etc.), the patient comes to hospital on the very morning of the operation. In addition, the medical mutual benefit insurance companies, in particular, the HMOs, have decided that some operations must be performed without any stay in hospital. This has resulted in the creation of ambulatory surgery units, which were either integrated in hospital surgery departments, or independent, and of which we discuss the pros and cons. In addition, an infrastructure aimed at facilitating postoperative care at home or in smaller private units has been set up. Laparoscopic surgery has further increased the percentage of ambulatory operations. There certainly will be no retreat now.