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List of the top 20 outpatient surgical procedures

Aug 5th, 2025

By Alex Card 3 min read
List of the top 20 outpatient surgical procedures

Hospitals and surgery centers offer different capabilities and specialties, and the outpatient surgical procedures performed at each type of facility vary significantly.

What are outpatient surgeries?

Outpatient surgeries are surgical procedures that can be performed on a patient without requiring an overnight stay at a hospital or other medical facility. Like other kinds of outpatient care, these procedures may be performed in a variety of settings, including primary care clinics, community health centers, urgent care centers, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).

Outpatient procedures are increasingly being performed in ASCs due to reduced costs related to staffing, upkeep, and overhead.

Using data from the Atlas All-Payor Claims Dataset, we’ve compiled lists of the most common outpatient surgical procedures performed at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.

Top 10 most common outpatient surgeries at hospitals

RankHCPCS/CPT codeDescription% total outpatient surgeries at hospitals in 2025Explore dataset
143239EGD biopsy, single/multiple5.43%Explore
245385Colonoscopy w/lesion removal4.27%Explore
345380Colonoscopy and biopsy3.92%Explore
420610Drain/injection in joint/bursa w/o US3.31%Explore
545378Diagnostic colonoscopy1.93%Explore
627447Total knee arthroplasty1.72%Explore
766984Extracapsular cataract removal w/o ECP1.70%Explore
893458Left heart artery/ventricle angiography1.28%Explore
949083Abdominal paracentesis w/ imaging1.03%Explore
1027130Total hip arthroplasty1.00%Explore

Fig. 1 Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s Atlas All-Payer Claims product and represents outpatient surgical procedures performed at hospitals in 2024, the most recent full year available. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States. Data accessed June 2025.

Top 10 most common outpatient surgeries at surgery centers

RankHCPCS/CPT codeDescription% of total outpatient surgeries at surgery centers in 2024Explore dataset
145385Colonoscopy w/ lesion removal11.50%Explore
243239EGD biopsy, single/multiple11.21%Explore
366984Extracapsular cataract removal w/o ECP10.92%Explore
445380Colonoscopy and biopsy10.15%Explore
545378Diagnostic colonoscopy5.77%Explore
6G0121Colon cancer screen, not high-risk individual1.83%Explore
7G0105Colorectal screen; high-risk individual1.77%Explore
866821After cataract laser surgery1.63%Explore
964635Destroy lumbar/sacral facet joint1.26%Explore
1069436Create eardrum opening1.13%Explore

Fig. 2 Data is from the Atlas All-Payor Claims Dataset and represents outpatient surgical procedures performed at surgery centers in 2024, the most recent full year available. Claims data is sourced from the Ambulatory Surgery Center Limited Data Set, released each January by CMS. Data accessed June 2025.

What is the most common outpatient surgery?

At hospitals, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with biopsy is the most common outpatient surgical procedure, representing 5.43% of all outpatient procedures. The next most common outpatient procedure at hospitals is colonoscopy with lesion removal, with 4.27% of procedures.

Colonoscopy with lesion removal is also the most common outpatient surgery at ambulatory surgery centers, representing 11.5% of outpatient surgical procedures. EGDs are the second most common outpatient procedures at ASCs, representing about 11.21% of procedures.

Colonoscopies are very common at both facilities and are among the priciest outpatient procedures for patients paying out of pocket, according to our data. Procedures within the colonoscopy subservice line account for 12.48% of hospital outpatient procedures and 32.06% of ASC outpatient procedures.

Looking at service lines more broadly, gastroenterology/digestive disease procedures lead overall outpatient volumes at both facilities, representing 29.12% of hospital outpatient procedures and 48.26% of ASC outpatient procedures. Orthopedic service lines have the second-highest procedure volume at hospitals (15.06%) and the third-highest volume at ASCs (13.2%).

The ophthalmology service line has the second-highest volume of all ASC outpatient procedures, representing 18.15% of procedures at those facilities. Ophthalmology only accounts for 4.32% of hospital outpatient procedures.

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Alex Card

About the Author

Alex Card

Alex Card is a senior content writer at Definitive Healthcare. His work has been cited in Becker's Hospital Review, Forrester Research, HealthTech, Insider Intelligence, and…

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