Safety of Outpatient Shoulder Surgery at a Freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Center in Patients Aged 65 Years and Older: A Review of 640 Cases

Introduction: With increasing utilization of surgery centers, it is important to demonstrate the safety of outpatient shoulder surgery in freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. No studies have specifically looked at the Medicare-age population and the rate of outpatient shoulder procedure complications in these patients at an ambulatory surgery center. Methods: Six hundred forty patients were included in our study between 2000 and 2015. The incidence of major complications was identified, including acute infection requiring intravenous antibiotics or irrigation and debridement, postoperative transfer to a hospital, wrong-site surgical procedures, retention of a foreign object, postoperative symptomatic thromboembolism, medication errors, and bleeding/wound complications. Results: There was a total of seven occurrence reports in seven patients, for a reported adverse event rate of 1.01%. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with currently reported outpatient hospital-based data and illustrate the safety of outpatient shoulder procedures at a freestanding ambulatory surgery center in Medicare-age patients.