Variation in hospital-based acute care within 30 days of outpatient plastic surgery.

Background: When complications arise following outpatient plastic surgery, patients may require hospital-based acute care after discharge. The extent to which these events vary across centers may reflect the quality of care provided. The authors conducted this study to describe the frequency and variation of hospital-based acute care rates across ambulatory surgery centers.

Hospital readmissions and emergency department visits following laparoscopic and open colon resection for cancer.

Background: Laparoscopic colectomy for the treatment of colon cancer has been widely adopted in community practice, in part, because of shorter hospitalizations. The benefits of a shorter hospital stay are only realized if readmissions and emergency department visits, collectively termed revisits, do not increase after discharge. We conducted a population-based analysis to determine whether hospitals with higher laparoscopic colectomy rates have higher revisit rates.