Journal of clinical anesthesia
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Most surgical discharges (54%) at the average hospital are for procedures performed no more often than once per month at that hospital. We hypothesized that such uncommon procedures would be associated with an even greater percentage of the total cost of performing all surgical procedures at that hospital. ⋯ Approximately 2/3rd (mean 68%) of inpatient costs among surgical patients can be attributed to procedures performed at most once per month per hospital. The finding that such uncommon procedures account for a large percentage of costs is important because methods of cost accounting by procedure are generally unsuitable for them.
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To determine if open-access scheduling would reduce the cancellation rate for new patient evaluations in a chronic pain clinic by at least 50%. ⋯ Access to care for new chronic pain patients improved with modified open-access scheduling. However, their mean cancellation rate only decreased from 35.7% to 31.5%, making this a marginally effective strategy to reduce cancellations.