[The future of outpatient surgery].

BACKGROUND

Over the past 30 years, outpatient surgery has developed into an indispensable pillar of patient care in Germany, without its full potential coming to light.

QUESTION

What are the reasons for the stagnation of further development of outpatient surgery and its suboptimal status quo?

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Presentation and comparison of outpatient surgery numbers from clinics and practices, and a critical analysis of their development.

RESULTS

After reaching a maximum number of outpatient operations in practices and clinics in 2015, there has been a location-independent decrease and stagnation due to underfunding of outpatient surgical structures and a shortage of resources.

CONCLUSION

Outpatient surgery represents a patient-friendly and cost-effective alternative to inpatient interventions, provided that that medical and social indications rule out an increased risk. The expansion of outpatient surgery has so far provided relieve to the cost-intensive hospital sector and-in view of the shortage of nurses and physicians-will do so to an even greater extent as soon as politicians and payers commit to remuneration that is performance-related and actually covers the costs. Furthermore, the future of the healthcare system also depends on the future of outpatient surgery, which is to be assessed as positive.