Ambulatory Surgical Care

Ambulatory surgical care currently accounts for $209 billion, or 8% of domestic healthcare spending. It is a sector that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of growth, and there are significant opportunities to reduce costs and improve patient experience.

A conservative estimate of national savings from full implementation of the CERC surgical model is $45 billion per year in direct healthcare spending by the end of year five, or 21% of annual domestic spending on outpatient surgical care.

The key elements of the model include:

1. Reduction of the volume of surgeries, targeting overuse, through the routine use of patient decision aids, provider clinical decision support, and primary care provider case coaching
2. Resetting the location of the majority of elective ambulatory surgery to free-standing ambulatory surgical centers operating with expanded hours (18 hours a day/7 days a week)
3. Standardizing processes through the implementation of coordinated transitions, homogenized inputs, and streamlined operations