Office-based cataract surgery: Population health outcomes study of more than 21 000 cases in the United States

Purpose To identify safety and effectiveness outcomes of office-based cataract surgery. Each year, approximately 3.7 million cataract surgeries in the United States are performed in Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) and Hospital Outpatient Department (HOPD) locations. Medicare in July 2015 published a solicitation for expert opinion on reimbursing office-based cataract surgery. Design Large-scale, retrospective, consecutive case series of cataract surgeries performed in Minor Procedure Rooms (MPRs) of a large US integrated healthcare center. Participants More than 13 500 patients undergoing elective office-based cataract surgery. Methods Phacoemulsification cataract surgery performed in MPRs of Kaiser Permanente Colorado from 2011 to 2014. Main Outcome Measures Postoperative visual acuity and intraoperative and postoperative adverse events (AEs). Results Office-based cataract surgery was completed in 21 501 eyes (13 507 patients, age 72.6±9.6 years). Phacoemulsification was performed in 99.9% of cases, and manual extracapsular extraction was performed in 0.1% of cases. Systemic comorbidities included hypertension (53.5%), diabetes (22.3%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). Postoperative mean best-corrected visual acuity measured 0.14±0.26 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution units. Intraoperative ocular AEs included 119 (0.55%) cases of capsular tear and 73 (0.34%) cases of vitreous loss. Postoperative AEs included iritis (n = 330, 1.53%), corneal edema (n = 110, 0.53%), and retinal tear or detachment (n = 30, 0.14%). No endophthalmitis was reported. Second surgeries were performed in 0.70% of treated eyes within 6 months. There were no life- or vision-threatening intraoperative or perioperative AEs. Conclusions This is the largest US study to investigate the safety and effectiveness of office-based cataract surgery performed in MPRs. Office-based efficacy outcomes were consistently excellent, with a safety profile expected of minimally invasive cataract procedures performed in ASCs and HOPDs.