During the consultation, you should ask your surgeon where the surgery will take place. Tummy tucks are usually done in an office-based surgical facility or in a hospital, and for the most part, you have a choice as to where you want it to be. When it takes place in an ambulatory center, your stay is usually shorter than when you have the surgery in a hospital. Having the surgery in an ambulatory center should not be a problem as long as the facility is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting facility such as the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) or Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) in the United States. You can also find out if the facility is state-recognized or licensed or Medicare-certified. This just means that they have to observe even more rigorous and stricter nationally recognized standards.
When surgery is done at the hospital, you most likely will not have an option of picking a preferred hospital since it can only be done in a hospital where the surgeon has surgical or practicing privileges. If you prefer a particular hospital, then make sure you keep the ability of the surgeon to practice in that hospital in mind during your search for a surgeon. When you have the surgery in an ambulatory center, you are likely to be sent home within a few hours with a pain pump, as long as you have someone to help at home. In the hospital, they will tend to keep you at least overnight.
If your surgeon does not own an office-based surgical facility and does not operate from a hospital, then it is your obligation to find out which surgery facility he is affiliated with. You could also do background checks on the operating facility and make sure that it is also nationally or state-recognized and licensed, as well as Medicare-certified, if possible. Also, check for accreditation by AAAHC or AAAASF or any other nationally recognized, reputable accreditation organization. If you feel more comfortable seeing where you will be operated on, ask for a tour of the facility and just generally examine the staff, equipment, building, interiors, as well as the ambience of the place. Make sure that it is somewhere you will feel comfortable. With advances in technology, there are many state-of-the-art operating facilities, and yours should be one of them.
