MONDAY, Nov. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Hospital adoption of an emergency general surgery (EGS) verification program is associated with reductions in length of stay (LOS), acute kidney injury (AKI), and 30-day mortality, according to a study published online Nov. 4 in JAMA Surgery.
Geoffrey G. Hobika, M.D., from the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, and colleagues examined the association between earned EGS verification and hospital LOS, AKI, and 30-day mortality in a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences cohort study. Patients with operatively managed EGS diagnoses at 50 control hospitals and five verified hospitals were evaluated; the final cohort included 21,858 patients.
The researchers observed an association for verification with absolute reductions in LOS (−1.31 days), AKI (−1.23 percentage points), and mortality (−1.63 percentage points); the corresponding relative reductions were 19.7, 29.0, and 28.8 percent. After risk adjustment and Bonferroni correction, these results held. There was also an association between verification and improved care processes, including increased admission to surgical services, decreased failure of nonoperative management, and shorter time to operation. Independent associations were seen for all processes with improvements in all three primary outcomes.
"This study shows that implementing emergency general surgery verification was a successful strategy for improving both the speed and quality of care for patients undergoing emergency general surgery, which are important metrics also tied to reduced hospital costs," Hobika said in a statement. "The next step is to see whether those improvements continue among verified hospitals and as more hospitals receive verification."
The American College of Surgeons receives payments from hospitals for participation in the verification programs reported in the study.
