Performing complex cancer surgery in the ambulatory setting.

106 Background: The drive to move complex surgeries into the ambulatory setting will impact the cancer population. In anticipation, we developed an “ambulatory extended recovery” (AXR) program for pathway-based management of patients undergoing procedures with traditional 1-4 day hospital stays. Then in 2016 we opened the Josie Robertson Surgery Center (JR), a freestanding ambulatory surgical facility designed for complex cancer surgeries with one overnight stay. Methods: Using hospital databases we identified AXR cases eligible to be performed at JR and examined pathway completion (discharge home on POD 1), and 30-day institutional urgent care center (UCC) visits and readmissions. We compared AXR program results before and after opening JR in January 2016. Results: The most frequent AXR procedures were mastectomy ± immediate reconstruction, thyroidectomy, and minimally invasive prostatectomy, nephrectomy, and hysterectomy. 3307 and 2359 AXR procedures were done in 2015 and Jan-Sep 2016. In 2016 74% of AXR cases were performed at JR with the remainder at Memorial Hospital (MH), primarily for scheduling considerations or patient or surgical complexity. Pathway completion was 92% in 2015 and 95% in 2016 (p < 0.001). 30-day UCC visits/readmission rates were 8.8%/3.7% in 2015 and 8.6%/3.1% in 2016 (ns). Comparing cases at JR vs MH in 2016, pathway completion rates were 98.3% at JR vs 86.4% at MH (p < 0.001). Patient satisfaction was high for care provided at both facilities. Conclusions: Many complex cancer surgeries may be safely completed with a single overnight stay at a freestanding ambulatory facility. UCC visits and readmissions were not different between years, suggesting that quality of care was maintained in the ambulatory setting. The difference in pathway completion in 2016 at JR compared to MH may reflect successful triage of more medically complex patients and/or surgically complex procedures to MH.