Experience with your exact procedure
Ask how often the surgeon and center perform it, which outcomes they track, and how their results compare with appropriate benchmarks.
Before scheduling outpatient surgery
10 ambulatory surgery center safety topics to examine
A center’s public data are one part of the decision. Confirm that the setting fits your health needs, your surgeon regularly performs the exact procedure there, and a clear plan exists for complications.
Appropriate patient selection
Ask which health conditions, anesthesia risks, procedure complexity, or recovery needs would make a hospital outpatient department safer.
No reported serious preventable events
Review CMS measures for burns, falls, and wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-side, wrong-procedure, or wrong-implant events.
Low transfers and unplanned hospital visits
Review available procedure-related hospital-visit measures and the center’s transfer or admission rate. Ask what caused recent transfers.
Qualified anesthesia and recovery care
Confirm who provides anesthesia, how patients are monitored, discharge criteria, and who responds if recovery takes longer than expected.
Reliable verification and surgical time-out
Ask how the team confirms identity, procedure, site, side, implants, consent, allergies, medications, and antibiotics before starting.
Strong infection prevention
Ask about hand hygiene, instrument sterilization, medication-injection practices, environmental cleaning, infection tracking, and follow-up.
Clear discharge and emergency instructions
You should receive understandable written instructions, warning signs, after-hours contact information, medication guidance, and a follow-up plan.
Patients report good communication and care
Review available OAS CAHPS results for staff, communication, overall facility rating, and willingness to recommend, including dates and response rates.
Transparent coverage, ownership, and transfer plans
Confirm all clinicians and services are in network, identify separate bills and financial interests, and ask which hospital receives emergency transfers.
Understanding safety topics in public reports
These brief explanations can help you understand terms and prepare questions before choosing care. Open a topic relevant to your needs. This is a selected list, not a ranking of the most common complications or a complete list of risks.
Surgical-site and other infections
What it means: A surgical-site infection occurs where surgery took place and may involve skin, deeper tissue, or implanted material. Infection can become apparent after a patient goes home.
What public information can tell you: CMS ASC measures do not provide a complete infection rate for every procedure and center. Some procedure-related hospital-visit measures may reflect complications, but are not standalone infection rates. Ask what the center tracks after discharge.
Question to ask: What infection outcomes do you track for my procedure, how do you learn about infections after discharge, and what recent results can you share?
Learn more: CDC: Surgical-site infections · CMS: ASC quality reporting
Medication-related harm
What it means: Medication errors and harmful drug reactions are different. Problems can involve doses, allergies, interactions, or misunderstanding which medicines to take after discharge; a reaction does not always indicate an error.
What public information can tell you: The CMS ASC results used here do not provide a comprehensive medication-harm rate. Patient-experience results about communication should not be treated as a count of medication errors.
Question to ask: Who reviews my medicines and allergies before the procedure, and how will medication changes be explained when I go home?
Learn more: AHRQ PSNet: Medication errors and adverse drug events
Blood clots after surgery
What it means: Blood clots can form in deep veins and travel to the lungs. Risk depends on the procedure, movement, medical history, and other factors, and may continue after discharge.
What public information can tell you: The guide does not provide a dedicated blood-clot rate for every ASC and procedure. A hospital-visit measure does not by itself identify how many visits involved a blood clot.
Question to ask: How will you assess my blood-clot risk and explain any plan and follow-up appropriate for this procedure?
Learn more: CDC: Healthcare-associated blood clots
Falls during care and recovery
What it means: Sedation, medicines, weakness, or changes in mobility can affect a person’s ability to move safely during recovery.
What public information can tell you: CMS includes an ASC patient-fall measure. Check its reporting period and definition; it is not a complete account of falls occurring later at home.
Question to ask: How do you assess readiness to move safely and plan the help I may need when leaving the center?
Learn more: CMS: ASC quality reporting · WHO: Patient safety
Bleeding, injury, and other procedure-related complications
What it means: Procedures can have complications such as bleeding, unintended injury, or a need for additional treatment. Their relevance and likelihood depend on the procedure and the individual.
What public information can tell you: CMS reports selected serious events, transfers, and procedure-related hospital visits. These measures cover different events and periods; they are not a complete complication rate for every procedure.
Question to ask: What complications do you track for my exact procedure, what are your recent results, and what happens if I need hospital care?
Learn more: CMS: ASC quality reporting
Anesthesia, sedation, and aspiration
What it means: Anesthesia or sedation requires assessment and monitoring. Aspiration means material such as stomach contents entering the airway; it can cause chemical lung inflammation or pneumonia, which are different conditions.
What public information can tell you: The guide does not show a dedicated, comparable aspiration rate for each center. Transfer or hospital-visit measures cannot by themselves explain whether anesthesia or aspiration caused the event.
Question to ask: Who assesses my anesthesia risks, monitors my recovery, and decides whether this center is appropriate for my needs?
Learn more: Merck Manual: Aspiration pneumonia and chemical pneumonitis
These explanations support informed conversations; they do not assess your personal risk or provide treatment instructions. Ask your care team for advice specific to you. For an emergency, seek immediate medical help.
Download the comparison worksheet to record your questions and answers.