Table 4.

Mean preoperative and overall perioperative costs ($US) per patient

Cost category	Clinic group	Conventional group	Mean difference a	P- value
	(n = 176)	(n = 176)	(95% CI)
a. Outpatient clinic	109.20	0	109.20	<0.001
b. Medication prescribed by anesthesiologist	0.48	0.15	0.33 (−0.18 to 0.85)	0.20
c. Investigations ordered by anesthesiologist	36.14	24.74	11.40 (0.59 to 22.19)	0.04
d. Cancellation of surgery	15.99	58.64	−42.65 (−126.49 to 41.13)	0.32
e. Inpatient bed before surgeryb	335.87	876.99	−541.12 (−656.58 to −425.67)	<0.001
Total preoperative cost (a to d)	497.68	960.52	−462.84 (−648.12 to −277.58)	<0.001
f. Inpatient bed on day of surgery and afterwards	2,247.13	1,956.58	290.55 (−187.01 to 768.12)	0.23
Total perioperative cost (a to f)	2,744.81	2,917.10	−172.29 (−684.48 to 339.89)	0.51

^aNegative value implies that outpatient anesthesia consultation clinic is less expensive than conventional approach; positive value implies that outpatient anesthesia consultation clinic is more expensive than conventional approach. ^b95 patients in the clinic group were admitted at least one day before surgery into hospital.