Perioperative Surgical Home. Meeting tomorrow's challenges

New healthcare models pose a variety of changes for anesthesiologists, ranging from the need to improve quality and to cost containment: as such, the concept of Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) has been developed. Modelled after the UK's Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), PSH takes a step further by coordinating care starting from the time a surgical decision is made for the patient to as many as 30 days postoperatively, taking a logical evidenced-based approach to judicious preoperative testing. Perioperative surgical home also relies heavily on engineering imported strategies such as the use of Lean Six Sigma methodologies, and involves active participation of all stakeholders. By comparison, ERAS is a series of well-defined clinical protocols that do not extend beyond the episode of surgical care. As an added aspect of its benefits, PSH also helps to control costs by decreasing unnecessary testing and cancellations, and allowing for more OR access by inpatients.