Financial considerations in outpatient spine surgery

This paper aims to review the cost benefits of performing spine surgeries at an ambulatory surgery center or an outpatient hospital department. The potential for cost savings associated with ambulatory based surgery centers or outpatient hospital departments will likely continue to increase the number of spine surgeries performed at such locations. Several types of ownership structures for ambulatory based surgery centers or outpatients hospital departments exist, and can be broadly categorized into sole physician ownership, sole hospital ownership, physician-hospital joint ownership, physician-management service joint ventures. It can be argued that a sole physician ownership of these centers can cause potential conflicts of interests; however, it can also decrease costs for patients and improve physician satisfaction.