Home surgical recovery program proves value.

The evidence is overwhelming that sharp reductions in health care costs can be achieved by reducing or eliminating reliance on expensive hospital care. In surgery, this is not always possible. However, significant savings can be achieved through reducing the length of time that a surgery patient must spend in the hospital. In outpatient surgery, the hospital stay is reduced to a single day. In this article, the authors describe a home surgical recovery program that has had great success in reducing hospital stays for even more complicated surgical procedures, frequently matching the achievements of outpatient surgery programs.