Examining Emergency Department Utilization Following Bariatric Surgery

Emergency department (ED) utilization following surgery is poorly understood and places immense strain on the healthcare system, being responsible for up to 38 billion in wasteful spending annually. The aim of this study was to quantify ED utilization following bariatric procedures to identify causes and areas of improvement. A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was conducted for all patients who underwent metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) between November 2006 and June 2019. The study includes 4703 patients across 8 hospitals in a single health system. Patients who returned to the ED within 30 and 90 days were analyzed for relation to surgery and preventability. Of the 4703 patients that underwent MBS, 907 (19.3