I don't know if its the same in all cases, but for my bariatric surgeon, 'outpatient' means it is done in a building attached to the hospital, but not the actual hospital itself. The surgical room is essentially the same, but if there are complications and you need to stay longer, then you are moved to the actual hospital. Ultimately, it really doesn't seem to make much difference. The outpatient facility is attached to the hospital down a corrider. My surgeon does lower risk patients at the outpatient facility and higher risk patients in the hospital. Her surgical team is the same, though, and the cost is the same. I would guess that it might be faster to get scheduled into the outpatient facility, though, because you aren't competing for operating rooms w/other types of operations. I'm not sure about that, though... just a guess.
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