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Routine testing before surgical procedures is overused and usually is nonbeneficial and costly; such testing also can result in further downstream invasive testing. In this study, researchers used administrative claims data to determine use, variability, and determinants of preoperative testing before three common low-risk ambulatory surgical procedures in Michigan from 2015 to 2019.
Data on patients who underwent lumpectomy (9600), laparoscopic cholecystectomy (20,200), and laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (10,200) were evaluated. Overall, 52% of patients underwent ≥1 preoperative test, 29% underwent ≥2 preoperative tests, and 14% underwent ≥3 preoperative tests. The most common preoperative tests were complete blood counts, electrocardi…