More than 90% of surgical procedures are performed in an office setting, and dermatologists are >5 times as likely as other specialists to operate in an office setting, according to a recent study. A cross-sectional analytical study was performed using the Medicare public use file (PUF) for 2014, which includes every patient seen in an office, ambulatory surgery center (ASC), or hospital in the US billed to Medicare part B. Data were divided by physician specialty and setting. Researchers found:

• A total of 9,316,307 individual encounters were included in the Medicare PUF.
• Dermatologists account for 195,001 (2.1%) of the total.
• Dermatologists were more likely to perform surgical procedures in an office setting only (odds ratio 5.48) than other specialists in aggregate.